>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 Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
