Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Randall Buth <randallbuth AT gmail.com>]

>Nu. 17:6 hamittem
The syllable is unaccented and closed by the suffix -tem,
so the vowel is short.
Short vowels are typically 'Haser' in 1Temple Hebrew.

...
> In 1Sa 2:25 la-hamiytam
1 Sm 2.25 is 'regular' with 'y' because the vowel is open,
unaccented, therefore long,
long vowels are often written in 1 Temple Hebrew.

The 'problem' with the above forms is not that the MT links them to
the verb hamiyt 'to put to death',
but that the MT does not follow its own patterns.

for 'you-all put to death', the MT would 'normally' have produced
*hamitotem
or
*hemattem

Nu 17.6 is neither, which makes it a curiousity.
It is a verb that apparently fixed itself as a special form
hamittem and hamitten
as is evidenced in
Ex 1.16 vahamitten 'and you-girls will put to
death ...'
and 2 Sm 13.28 vahamittem.
So not every verb or form in a language ends up in a predictable
form.
hamittem is still its "official" form today.


As for 'modern' spelling:
the first option would have been *המיתותם
the second option would be
 המתם or המיתם

-- 
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicallanguagecenter.com
Biblical Language Center
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