A Guide to Biblical Hebrew SyntaxThis introduces and abridges the syntactical features of the original language of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. Scholars have made significant progress in recent decades in understanding Biblical Hebrew syntax. Yet intermediate readers seldom have access to this progress due to the technical jargon and sometimes-obscure locations of the scholarly publications. This Guide is an intermediate-level reference grammar for Biblical Hebrew. As such, it assumes an understanding of elementary phonology and morphology, and defines and illustrates the fundamental syntactical features of Biblical Hebrew that most intermediate-level readers struggle to master. The volume divides Biblical Hebrew syntax, and to a lesser extent morphology, into four parts. The first three cover the individual words (nouns, verbs, and particles) with the goal of helping the reader move from morphological and syntactical observations to meaning and significance. The fourth section moves beyond phase-level phenomena and considers the larger relationships of clauses and sentences. |
Contents
2 NOUNS | 4 |
21 Nominative | 6 |
213 Vocative | 7 |
22 Genitive | 8 |
222 Relationship | 9 |
225 Attributive | 10 |
227 Cause | 11 |
2210 Material | 12 |
419 | 109 |
4110 | 110 |
4111 | 115 |
4113 | 116 |
4114 | 119 |
4115 | 120 |
4117 | 124 |
4118 | 125 |
2213 Superlative | 13 |
231 Object | 14 |
232 Adverbial | 18 |
24 Apposition | 21 |
241 Species | 22 |
243 Material | 23 |
245 Explicative | 24 |
251 Attributive | 25 |
252 Predicate | 26 |
254 Comparative and Superlative | 27 |
26 Determination | 28 |
261 Referential | 29 |
262 Vocative | 30 |
264 Solitary | 31 |
266 Demonstrative | 32 |
271 Cardinal Numbers | 33 |
272 Ordinal Numbers | 35 |
3 VERBS | 36 |
31 Stem | 37 |
312 Niphal | 38 |
313 Piel | 41 |
314 Pual | 46 |
315 Hithpael | 47 |
316 Hiphil | 48 |
317 Hophal | 52 |
32 Aspect | 53 |
321 Perfect | 54 |
322 Imperfect | 56 |
33 Modals | 60 |
331 Jussive | 61 |
332 Imperative | 63 |
333 Cohortative | 65 |
34 Nonfinites | 66 |
341 Infinitive Construct | 67 |
342 Infinitive Absolute | 73 |
343 Participle | 77 |
35 Verbal Sequences | 83 |
351 Imperfect plus waw Consecutive | 84 |
352 Perfect plus waw Consecutive | 87 |
353 Commands in Verbal Sequences | 91 |
354 Interruptions in Verbal Sequences | 92 |
4 Particles | 95 |
411 | 96 |
412 | 97 |
413 | 101 |
415 | 102 |
416 | 106 |
417 | 107 |
418 | 108 |
42 Adverbs | 127 |
422 | 129 |
423 | 130 |
425 | 132 |
426 | 134 |
428 | 135 |
4210 | 136 |
4211 | 137 |
4212 | 138 |
4213 | 139 |
4215 | 140 |
4216 | 141 |
4217 | 142 |
43 Conjunctions | 143 |
433 | 146 |
434 | 149 |
435 | 155 |
44 Particles of ExistenceNonexistence | 156 |
442 | 157 |
451 | 158 |
452 | 159 |
5 Clauses and Sentences | 162 |
51 Nominal and Verbal Clauses | 164 |
511 Nominal Clause | 165 |
512 Verbal Clause | 167 |
52 Subordinate Clauses | 171 |
522 Conditional Clause | 173 |
523 Final Clause | 174 |
524 Temporal Clause | 176 |
525 Causal Clause | 178 |
526 Comparative Clause | 179 |
527 Exceptive Clause | 180 |
528 Restrictive Clause | 181 |
5211 Circumstantial Clause | 182 |
5212 Concessive Clause | 183 |
5213 Relative Clause | 184 |
5214 Disjunctive Clause | 186 |
531 Interrogative Sentences | 187 |
532 Oath Sentences | 188 |
533 Wish Sentences | 189 |
534 Existential Sentences | 191 |
536 Elliptical Clauses and Sentences | 192 |
Stem Chart | 193 |
Expanded Stem Chart | 194 |
Glossary | 195 |
207 | |
213 | |
216 | |
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Common terms and phrases
accusative action or situation adjective adverbs apodosis apposition beginning grammars Biblical Hebrew causal Chisholm connotes definite article denotes Deut Exod expresses Ezek factitive finite verb frequently function genitive Hebrew syntax hendiadys Hiphil imperfect indicates infinitive absolute infinitive construct introduced Israel Josh Joüon and Muraoka Judg jussive Kautzsch king Kroeze Lambdin literally main clause marks Merwe modifies narrative Naudé Niphal nominal clause noun nuance occurs participle particle passive perfect phrase Piel predicate preposition pronoun Prov Qere refer relationship sentence Seow specific speech stative stem subordinate clause substantive syntactical temporal tion tive translation typically Ugaritic verbal clause verbal form Waltke and O'Connor waw conjunctive waw consecutive word YHWH אָז אִישׁ אֱלֹהִים אֲנִי אָנֹכִי אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה הָאָרֶץ הוּא הַזֶּה הַמֶּלֶךְ הִנֵּה וְהִנֵּה וַיֹּאמֶר וַיְהִי וְלֹא וְעַתָּה יְהוָה יִשְׂרָאֵל כַּאֲשֶׁר כֹּה כִּי כֵּן לֹא לִי לִפְנֵי מְאֹד עוֹד רַק שָׁם