Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Petr Tomasek <tomasek AT etf.cuni.cz>]

On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 09:30:13PM +0100, James Christian wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I remember in my beginner's Hebrew class it was presented that jussives are
> weak commands or strong desires. Then the 10 commandments were given as an
> example. This left me scratchine my head. Is it a strong command 'Don't kill

There are no jussives in the Ten commandments!

Jussives would be apocopate (shortened) forms, but we have: לא תעשׂה (and not 
לא תעשׂ),
לא יהיה (and not לא יהי), לא תשׁתחוה (and not לא תשׁתחו) and לא תענה (and not
לא תען).

> folk' or a wishy washy 'You really shouldn't kill people'? Also, are we to
> understand the creation account as 'Light, please come into existence' or a
> strong and unequivalent 'Light, I am commanding you into existence' (i.e.
> you have no choice in the matter).
> 
> Any thoughts? Why are jussives presented in this way when all the examples
> seem to contradict the way they are taught?
> 
> James Christian

-- 
Petr Tomasek <http://www.etf.cuni.cz/~tomasek>
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