Page:Introductory Hebrew Grammar- Hebrew Syntax (1902).djvu/110

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to use the stronger forms without the special force they have in earlier times. Thus the coh. seems sometimes to be merely an emphatic impf., and rhythm may occasionally have dictated the form. Jer. 4:19, 21; 6:10, Ps. 42:5; 55:3, 18; 88:16, Is. 59:10. — In several cases after עד, Pr. 12:19, Ps. 73:17. Cf. Lam. 3:50, where juss. יֵרֶא is parall. to יַשְׁקִיף, not as Ps. 14:2.

Rem. 6. The use of juss. forms, especially in later books, is full of difficulty. According to Mass. pointing (the strict moods being omitted) the following forms are in use: —

perf. 1a הִקְטִיל. impf. 1b יַקְטִיל simple perf. and impf.
2a וַיַּקְטֵל. 2b וְהִקְטִיל regular convers. forms.
3a וְהִקְטִיל. 3b וְיַקְטִיל vav copulative.
4b יַקְטֵל, וְיַקְטֵל the modified form

with or without simple vav used in the senses of the simple impf., e.g. in descriptions of past and present (= 1b), and as vav perf., &c. (= 2b, 3b). While 3a is in the main late (§ 58), 3b is common at all times in animated speech. The difficulty lies with 4b; e.g. Job 13:27 וְחָשֵׂם בַּסַּד רַגְלַי and thou settest my feet in the stocks (the form preserved in the quotation, 33:11). Ps. 11:6, Is. 12:1, Pr. 15:25, Job 18:9, 12; 20:23, 26, 28; 27:22, &c. Again, Joel 2:20 וְעָלָה בָאְשׁוֹ וְחַעַל צַֽחֲנָתוֹ his smell shall come up and his stink shall ascend, where וְתַעַל = וְעָֽלְתָה or וְתַֽעֲלֶה Zeph. 2:13 וְיֵט יָדוֹ and he shall stretch his hand, for וְנָטָה or וְיטִּהֶ. 1 K. 8:1; 14:5, Mic. 3:4; 6:14, Lev. 15:24; 26:43, Ez. 14:7, Is. 35:1, 2; 58:10, Dan. 8:12; 11:4, 10, 16–19, 25, 28, 30, &c.

It is perhaps well to endeavour to fit some known juss. sense on each case as it is met with, though it may prove a waste of ingenuity. Further, while the general principles of Syntax may be common to all the Shem. languages, appeals to analogies from cogn. languages are often precarious. The reader for ex. who calls in the use of Ar. au, or, with subj. in the sense of unless, or else, to explain the juss. Is. 27:5 אוֹ יַֽחֲזֵק or that (unless) he take hold, will be disconcerted to find in the next verse a juss. יַשְׁרֵשׁ in a plain affirmative sentence. [1]

  1. Appeal to Ar. au in Is. 27:5 is all the more precarious, inasmuch as the indic. is permissible after au. Cf. a case Noeld. Carm. Arab. 5:7.