Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Benjamin Giffone <bg914 AT eagle.pbu.edu>]

But surely their mood is jussive/imperative, even if the distinct jussive
forms are not used to distinguish from the *yiqtol*.  These verbs are not
past, present or future indicative ("You did not kill," "You do not kill,"
"You will not kill").

Could the answer to the original question lie in the use of *lo'* vs. *'al*?
On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 5:24 PM, Petr Tomasek <tomasek AT etf.cuni.cz> wrote:

> 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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Benjamin D. Giffone
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