Thursday, October 18, 2012

Psalm 8:1

לַמְנַצֵּחַ עַל־הַגִּתִּית מִזְמֹור לְדָוִד׃

Rough Word-by-word:
To/for the overseeing one upon the Gittith; [a] Psalm of/for David.

Smooth Translation:
To the leader upon the Gittith; a Psalm of David.

Notes:
For "upon the Gittith" there are some interpretive issues:
Soncino says:
Two explanations are possible, alike based upon Jewish tradition. The Targum connects the term with the city named Gath, suggesting a musical instrument or melody which had a Philistine origin. The Midrash sees a connection with Hebrew gath, 'a winepress,' hence a tune associated with vintage songs. Modern scholars favour the second alternative.

The LXX translates with τῶν ληνῶν (the wine-presses), using the plural.

לַמְנַצֵּחַ preposition and definite article with Piel participle ms from נָצַח (he oversaw) "to/for the overseeing one"

עַל־הַגִּתִּית preposition with definite article and noun fs "upon the Gittith" (Owens parses this as a feminine plural noun while BibleWorks 4 parses it as a feminine singular - see notes above.)

מִזְמֹור noun ms "[a] psalm"

לְדָוִד preposition with proper name "to/for David"

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Psalm 7:18

אֹודֶה יְהוָה כְּצִדְקֹו וַאֲזַמְּרָה שֵׁם־יְהוָה עֶלְיֹון׃

Rough Word-by-word:
I will cause to thank the LORD for righteousness of him and intensely praise the name of the LORD most high.

Smooth Translation:
I will thank the LORD for his righteousness and intensely praise the name of the LORD most high.

Notes:
In Page Kelley's Biblical Hebrew on page 145 he talks about the Vav Consecutive or Vav Conversive saying:

The vav consecutive is a special form of the conjunction which can be prefixed to imperfect forms of Hebrew verbs to express the narrated past. A passage narrating consecutive events in past time will often begin with a perfect, and then be continued by a series of imperfects with vav consecutive. Because both perfects and imperfects in such a sequence are normally translated in the past tense, it is common for grammarians to refer to the vav consecutive as the "vav conversive" and to claim that it "converts" imperfect forms of the verb into perfects.
It would be simpler to say that imperfects prefixed with vav consecutives represent consecutive actions that from the reader's viewpoint took place in past time. They may be understood as either sequential ("and then") or consequential ("and so"), although it is not always possible to draw a sharp line of distinction between these two meanings, nor is it always necessary to express the distinction in translation.


אֹודֶה Hiphil imperfect 1cs from יָדָה (he thanked) "I will cause to thank" (I thought it was Qal, but all my resources say Hiphil)

יְהוָה Tetragrammaton - divine name "the LORD"

כְּצִדְקֹו preposition and noun ms with 3ms pronominal suffix "for righteousness of him"

וַאֲזַמְּרָה Piel imperfect 1cs with vav consecutive from זָמַר (he praised in song) "and intensely praise" (see note above on Vav consecutive)

שֵׁם־יְהוָה noun ms in construct with Tetragrammaton "[the] name of the LORD"

עֶלְיֹון adjective ms "most high" (Owens calls this a noun - "the most high")

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Psalm 7:17

יָשׁוּב עֲמָלֹו בְרֹאשֹׁו וְעַל קָדְקֳדֹו חֲמָסֹו יֵרֵד׃

Rough Word-by-word:
[He] It will return the labor of him on the head of him and on the crown of the head of him violence of him [he] it will go down.

Smooth Translation:
His labors will return on his head and his violence will go down on the crown of his head.

יָשׁוּב Qal imperfect 3ms from שׁוּב (he returned) "[he] it will return"

עֲמָלֹו noun ms with 3ms pronominal suffix "the labor of him" (Owens translates this as "his mischief")

בְרֹאשֹׁו preposition and noun ms with 3ms pronominal suffix "[in] on the head of him"

וְעַל conjunction and preposition "and on"

קָדְקֳדֹו noun ms with 3ms pronominal suffix "the crown of the head of him" (Owens calls it "his own pate.")

חֲמָסֹו noun ms with 3ms pronominal suffix "[the] violence of him"

יֵרֵד Qal imperfect 3ms from יָרַד (he went down) "[he] it will go down"

Monday, October 15, 2012

Psalm 7:16

בֹּור כָּרָה וַיַּחְפְּרֵהוּ וַיִּפֹּל בְּשַׁחַת יִפְעָל׃

Rough Word-by-word:
a pit he digged and he digged out it and he fell in the hole he makes

Smooth Translation:
He digged and digged out a pit, and has fallen in the hole he makes.

בֹּור noun masculine singular "a pit"

כָּרָה Qal perfect 3ms from כָּרָה (he dug, he digged) "he digged"

וַיַּחְפְּרֵהוּ Qal imperfect 3ms with a vav conversive and 3ms pronominal suffix from חָפַר (he digged out) "and he digged out [him] it"

וַיִּפֹּל Qal imperfect 3ms with a vav conversive from נָפַל (he fell) "and he fell"

בְּשַׁחַת preposition with noun fs "in [the] hole"

יִפְעָל Qal imperfect 3ms from פָּעַל (he did, he made) "he will make" or "he makes" (note the imperfect - incomplete)

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Psalm 7:15

הִנֵּה יְחַבֶּל־אָוֶן וְהָרָה עָמָל וְיָלַד שָׁקֶר׃

Rough Word-by-word:
Behold, he will bind evil and he will conceive trouble and he will beget a lie.

Smooth Translation:
Behold, he will bind evil and conceive trouble, and beget a lie.

הִנֵּה interjection "behold"

יְחַבֶּל־אָוֶן Piel imperfect 3ms from הָבַל (he bound) with noun ms "he will bind evil"

וְהָרָה vav conversive with Qal perfect 3ms from הָרָה (he conceived) "and he will conceive"

עָמָל noun ms "trouble"

וְיָלַד vav conversive with Qal perfect 3ms from יָלַד (bear, beget) "and he will bear"

שָׁקֶר noun ms "a lie"

Monday, October 8, 2012

Psalm 7:14

וְלֹו הֵכִין כְּלֵי־מָוֶת חִצָּיו לְדֹלְקִים יִפְעָל׃

Rough Word-by-word:
And for him he caused to prepare vessels of death. The arrows of him for pursuing men he will do.

Smooth Translation:
And he caused to prepare vessels of death for him. His arrows for the pursuers he will make.

וְלֹו conjunction with preposition and 3ms pronominal suffix "and to/for him"

הֵכִין Hiphil perfect 3ms from כּוּן (he prepared) "he caused to prepare"

כְּלֵי־מָוֶת noun mp in construct with noun ms "vessels of death"

חִצָּיו noun mp in construct with 3ms pronominal suffix "[the] arrows of him"

לְדֹלְקִים preposition with Qal active participle mp from דָּלַק (he pursued) "to/for pursuing men"

יִפְעָל Qal imperfect 3ms from פָעַל (he did) "he will do"

Monday, October 1, 2012

A spot of tea?

Last Friday as we began looking at Proverbs 1 we noted the ת at he end of a number of infinitive constructs. I spoke with Dr. Staats about this and he told me this is just the form of some of the weak infinitive constructs and that Weingreen talks about it.

I could not find the form in Weingreen, but in Kelley on pages 180-181 he talks about Pe Vav and Pe Yod verbs and Gutturals that take this form. Also in  Pratico's grammar on pages 236-239 he also indicates this as the form for the infinitive construct of these verbs.