Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 5:39 AM, Pere Porta wrote:
> In 2Ki 1:11 we find the word MH"RH and in 1Ki 22:9 we find MH:ARH.
>  Different vowel settings.
>  I read in a bible search program that the first is a "particle adverb". The
>  second is a Pi'el Imperative form.
>
>  Could we say that the word in 2Ki is also a kind of Pi'el Imperative even 
> if
>  its vowel set does not fit that of the word in 1Ki?

The two forms are:
imperative 1 Ki 22:9, ma:-harɔ:
adverb 2 Ki 1:11, mehe:-rɔ:

There is therefore not only one vowel different, there are two vowels
-- the first
and second vowels are different in each case.  They also have a
different syllabic
structure.

In the first, there is no other verb, so there is no verb to modify
had it been an adverb.
In the second, there is a second verb, but there is no object.  It
can't stand for the
same meaning as the first, because there the meaning was "fetch!"  Here the
meaning can only be "Hurry! Descend!" but it makes much better sense to read 
it
"Descend quickly!" -- that is, as an adverb.

In other words, both the vowels, as well as the syllabic structure, as
well as the
function in the verses -- all these speak for the reading as an imperative and
adverb respectively, and not anything else.

Yitzhak Sapir