Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

I see it this way: the word הַלְבֵּשׁ from the root לבש  
contains the internal personal pronoun היא contracted to a mere E  
and tucked between the second and third radical letters, and standing  
for the high priest. The initial HA- is indefinite, but is being  
understood by the translators as referring directly to the speaker  
(and I will clothe thee).

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Mar 14, 2010, at 1:27 PM, Randall Buth wrote:

> > Can you give us some examples, other than the common "dying you  
> > shall die"
> > (Gen 2:16) type?
> > -Steve Miller
>
> Noam was not talking about that 'adverbial use' MOT TAMUT. See below.
>
>
> > > There are so many instances in the HB where the infinitive  
> > > absolute is used
> > > where we would use today a finite verb, and we read the meaning  
> > > from the
> > > context. Can a specific reason be found for every time the  
> > > infinitive
> > > absolute is used (used in a way that looks awkward to us today),  
> > > or was BH
> > > generous in dispensing the infinitive absolute? I just find it  
> > > difficult to
> > > search for a special reason for the infinitive absolute where it  
> > > crops up so
> > > often in what looks like "the wrong place" to us today.
> > > Noam Eitan,
> > > > Karl Randolph
> > > > In isolation it looks like another case of mistaken pointing.
>
> There is no mistake in pointing here, though one may always suggest  
> re-writing
> a text.
>
> Using an 'infinitive' in place of a finite verb is something attested
> in ElAmarna,
> 1st Temple Hebrew, Phoenician, and 2nd Temple Hebrew. Noam is correct
> that it is relatively common, though it is not common enough for us  
> to have
> a full grasp on when to use it and the special nuances or effects that
> an author
> achieves from it. There are four-five examples in the Qumran fragments
> of Tobit, which is one of the supporting pieces of evidence that  
> Tobit was
> originally in Hebrew and that the Aramaic Tobit is a translation.
>
> one may distinguish two forms of this structure, one may be called
> (ve)QATOL ANOKI,
> where the subject pronoun follows the verb (common in Phoenician),
> and the other is simply (ve) QATOL, with no subject pronoun.
> Eccl 4.2 is a famous example with a subject pronoun. Esther 9.1 is  
> an example
> with the 3ms pronoun.
> For no pronoun, see Zech 7.5 ve-safod (2p), 12:10 vehamer (3p)
> or Est 9.6 ve-abbed (3p).
> 1Ki 9.25 would be an example, though the extra yod in the ktiv is  
> anomolous.
> Jouon-Muraoka will have a longish discussion of this and some  
> secondary
> literature, should you wish to follow it up.
>
> Finally, one may add that Zech 3.4 might also be read as a reflexive
> imperative "dress yourself" (same niqqud, vowels). While rare,  
> there are
> possible examples of an object et+pronoun 'them(selves)' being used
> reflexively. (Ex 5.19, Ezek 34.2).
>
> For the record, I read Zech 3.4 as the infinitive (maqor, lo shem  
> po`al).
>
> Randall Buth
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Randall Buth, PhD
> www.biblicalulpan.org
> randallbuth AT gmail.com
> Biblical Language Center
> Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life
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