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Semantics

Semantics is the study of how language is used to represent meaning.

How to use the Semantics Page

Beneath the Grammatical Diagram we have notes categorized into five tabs, as illustrated below.

Grammar

Our grammar layer is the most foundational layer of analysis, where we create a visual illustration of how every single word relates to every other word. The tool we use to create this visual is called a grammatical diagram. For those who are not familiar with grammatical diagrams, this guide is designed to explain the basics. Many who have never used diagrams end up finding them very helpful. For example, one user shared:

I personally find grammatical diagrams very helpful as a Bible Translation consultant. Knowing how the different parts of a sentence relate to one another is very important. Having the text visually represented helps the consultant see where modern translations are coming from, giving him the raw material from where he can do his personal study and proposals to a team.

The explanations in this guide will build on each other in the following order:

The Core: Subject + Verb
Subject + Verb + Object
Subject + Complement (Verbless Clause)
Modifiers (e.g. adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases)
Legend
Alternatives

Basic Concepts

The Core: Subject + Verb

The starting point for grammatical diagrams is the combination of subject and verb to create a clause.

See for example the words from Ps 34:18:

Hebrew	v.	Close-but-Clear
יהוָ֣ה שָׁמֵ֑עַ	18	YHWH heard

We have here a subject (YHWH) and a verb (heard). This is represented in the diagram as:

SimpleGrammar
      Fragment
        Clause
          Subject
            noun: יהוָה YHWH
          Predicate
            verb: שָׁמֵעַ heard

We can see here a horizontal line represents a clause, with a dividing line between the subject (on the right) and the verb (on the left).

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Subject + Verb + Object

Let’s continue with the simple addition of an object, as in Ps 7:9:

Hebrew	v.	Close-but-Clear
יְהוָה֮ יָדִ֪ין עַ֫מִּ֥ים	9	YHWH judges the peoples

In this clause we have a subject (YHWH), a verb (judges), and an object (the peoples). This is represented in the diagram as:

SimpleGrammar
      Fragment
        Clause
          Subject
            noun: יְהוָה YHWH
          Predicate
            verb: יָדִין judges
            Object
              noun: עַמִּים peoples

To represent the object, the horizontal line stretches out further and another line is added. However, in contrast to the verb|subject line, the object|verb line does not cross the horizontal line.

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Subject + Complement (Verbless Clause)

Another important construction in Biblical Hebrew is that of a verbless clause (or nominal clause), where Hebrew does not require a verb, though English needs the copula/verb "to be". See for example the first part of Ps 10:16:

Hebrew	v.	Close-but-Clear
יְהוָ֣ה מֶ֭לֶךְ	16	YHWH is king

SimpleGrammar
      Fragment
        Clause
          Subject
            noun: יְהוָֹה YHWH
          Predicate
            verb: is
            Complement
              noun: מֶלֶךְ king

In this diagram, the subject is YHWH, on the right, the verb “to be” is supplied (is) in the middle, and on the left with a slanted line we have the noun “king” as the complement, what is said about the subjectIn this case the complement is a noun and we have an equative sentence saying the YHWH is king. It is important to note that English handles all verbless clauses with the verb "to be", but other languages may use different ways to render these Hebrew verbless clauses..

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Modifiers

(e.g. adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases)

Modifiers are added with a slanted line beneath the main clause line. See for example Ps 98:1:

Hebrew	v.	Close-but-Clear
שִׁ֤ירוּ לַֽיהוָ֨ה ׀ שִׁ֣יר חָ֭דָשׁ	1	Sing to YHWH a new song

SimpleGrammar
      Fragment
        Clause
          Predicate
            verb: שִׁירוּ sing
            Object
              noun: שִׁיר song
              adjective: חָדָשׁ new
            Adverbial
              PrepositionalPhrase
                Preposition
                  preposition: לַ to
                Object
                  noun: יהוָה YHWH

First, note that here the subject slot is empty, as no subject is explicitly identified in the clause.

Adjectives: The verb is an imperative calling the audience to sing a new song. Here the noun song (שִׁיר) is in the object position, but it is modified by the adjective חָדָשׁ, which is added beneath the noun with a slanted line.

Prepositional Phrases: A prepositional phrase is the combination of a preposition (e.g. לְ, בְּ, עַל, עִם…) with one or more other words. In this case the preposition modifying the verb “sing” is to (לְ), followed by the recipient YHWH. In the diagram the preposition is provided on a slanted line and any words dependent on the preposition follow on a horizontal line.

Adverbs/Adverbials: Adverbials are indicated by a dashed diagonal line, as in example Ps 22:2 (below), “I cry out by day”:

SimpleGrammar
      Fragment
        Clause
          Predicate
            verb: אֶקְרָא I cry out
            Adverbial
              noun: יוֹמָם by day

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Legend

For a detailed list of grammatical constructions and how they appear in the diagrams, see our Grammatical Legend (press the button below to expand). This legend appears at the top of every grammar page in our resources.

Grammatical Diagram Legend

Visualization	Description
	The clause is represented by a horizontal line with a vertical line crossing through it, separating the subject and the verb.
	The object is indicated by a vertical line that does not cross the horizontal line of the clause. Infinitives and participles may also have objects. If the direct object marker (d.o.m.) is present in the text, it appears in the diagram immediately before the object. If the grammar includes a secondary object, the secondary object will appear after the object, separated by another vertical line that does not cross the horizontal line of the clause.
	The subject complement follows the verb (often omitted in Hebrew) separated with a line leaning toward the right. It can be a noun, a whole prepositional phrase or an adjective. The later two appear modifying the complement slot.
	When a noun further describes or renames the object, it is an object complement. The object complement follows the object separated by a line leaning toward the right.
	In a construct chain, the noun in the absolute form modifies the noun in the construct form.
	Participles are indicated in whatever position in the clause they are in with a curved line before the participle. Participles can occur as nominal, where they take the place of a noun, predicate, where they take the place of a verb, or attributive, where they modify a noun or a verb similar to adjectives or adverbs.
	Infinitives are indicated by two parallel lines before the infinitive that cross the horizontal line. Infinitive constructs can appear as the verb in an embedded clause. Infinitive absolutes typically appear as an adverbial.
	The subject of the infinitive often appears in construct to it. In this situation, the infinitive and subject are diagrammed as a construct chain.
	The object of the infinitive is indicated by a vertical line that does not cross the horizontal line of the infinitival clause.
	Modifiers are represented by a solid diagonal line from the word they modify. They can attach to verbs, adjectives, or nouns. If modifying a verb or adjective, it is an adverb, but if modifying a noun, it is an adjective, a quantifier, or a definite article. If an adverb is modifying a modifier, it is connected to the modifier by a small dashed horizontal line.
	Adverbials are indicated by a dashed diagonal line extending to a horizontal line. These are nouns or infinitives that function adverbially (modifying either a verb or a participle), but are not connected by a preposition.
	Prepositional phrases are indicated by a solid diagonal line extending to a horizontal line. The preposition is to the left of the diagonal line and the dependent of the preposition is on the horizontal line. They can modify verbs (adverbial) or nouns (adjectival).
	Embedded clauses are indicated by a "stand" that looks like an upside-down Y. The stand rests in the grammatical position that the clause fulfills. Extending from the top of the stand is a horizontal line for the clause. If introduced by a complementizer, for example כִּי, the complementizer appears before the stand. Embedded clauses can stand in the place of any noun.
	When clauses are joined by a conjunction, they are compound clauses. These clauses are connected by a vertical dotted line. The conjunction is placed next to the dotted line.
	Within a clause, if two or more parts of speech are compound, these are represented by angled lines reaching to the two compound elements connected by a solid vertical line. If a conjunction is used, the conjunction appears to the left of the vertical line. Almost all parts of speech can be compound.
	Subordinate clauses are indicated by a dashed line coming from the line dividing the subject from the predicate in the independent clause and leading to the horizontal line of the subordinate clause. The subordinating conjunction appears next to the dashed line.
	Relative clauses also have a dashed line, but the line connects the antecedent to the horizontal line of the relative clause. The relative particle appears next to the dashed line.
	Sentence fragments are represented by a horizontal line with no vertical lines. They are most frequently used in superscriptions to psalms. They are visually similar to discourse particles and vocatives, but most often consist of a noun phrase (that does not refer to a person or people group) or a prepositional phrase.
	In the body of the psalm, a horizontal line by itself (with no modifiers or vertical lines) can indicate either a discourse particle or a vocative (if the word is a noun referring to a person or people group). A discourse particle is a conjunction or particle that functions at the discourse level, not at the grammatical level. Vocatives can appear either before or after the clause addressed to them, depending on the word order of the Hebrew.
	Apposition is indicated by an equal sign equating the two noun phrases. This can occur with a noun in any function in a sentence.

Hebrew text colors
Default preferred text	The default preferred reading is represented by a black line. The text of the MT is represented in bold black text.
Dispreferred reading	The dispreferred reading is an alternative interpretation of the grammar, represented by a pink line. The text of the MT is represented in bold pink text, while emendations and revocalizations retain their corresponding colors (see below).
Emended text	Emended text, text in which the consonants differ from the consonants of the Masoretic text, is represented by bold blue text, whether that reading is preferred or dispreferred.
Revocalized text	Revocalized text, text in which only the vowels differ from the vowels of the Masoretic text, is represented by bold purple text, whether that reading is preferred or dispreferred.
(Supplied elided element)	Any element that is elided in the Hebrew text is represented by bold gray text in parentheses.
( )	The position of a non-supplied elided element is represented by empty black parentheses. For example, this would be used in the place of the noun when an adjective functions substantivally or in the place of the antecedent when a relative clause has an implied antecedent.

Gloss text colors
Gloss used in the CBC	The gloss used in the Close-but-Clear translation is represented by bold blue text.
Literal gloss >> derived meaning	A gloss that shows the more literal meaning as well as the derived figurative meaning is represented in blue text with arrows pointing towards the more figurative meaning. The gloss used in the CBC will be bolded.
Supplied elided element	The gloss for a supplied elided element is represented in bold gray text.

Alternatives

When modern translations differ from each other in the same verse, this can often be very confusing. See for example Ps 2:12:

ESV: Kiss the Son…

NET: Give sincere homage…

These are two completely different translations, with different meanings, from two respected modern translations. Using our grammatical diagrams you will be able to see exactly how each translation relates to the original text.

Alternative readings can come in three different ways:

Grammatical Alternative
Textual Revocalization
Textual Emendation

Grammatical Alternative

A grammatical alternative occurs when the Masoretic Text is preserved, but there is a different way to understand the way the words are combined (i.e. the syntax/grammar).

Consider for example the two translations of Ps 2:12 above. Both read the same Hebrew text, נשׁקוּ בר, but the ESV (“kiss the son”) reads בר as the Aramaic word ‘son’ and the object of the clause. Meanwhile, the NET reads בר as an adjective meaning “pure”, functioning adverbially meaning “Kiss purely/sincerely”, i.e. “give sincere homage”.

These two alternatives are represented as follows:

SimpleGrammar
    DiscourseUnit [Ps 2:12]
      Fragment
        Clause
          Predicate
            verb: נַשְּׁקוּ kiss
            Adverbial <status="alternative">
              Nominal
                adjective: בַר pure <status="alternative">
            Object
              noun: בַר son

Our preferred reading is displayed in black (in this case “kiss the son”), and the dispreferred alternative in pink.

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Revocalization + Emendation

The vowels and exact pronunciation of Biblical Hebrew was written down at a much later stage in history. The earlier versions of the texts had only consonants. This means that sometimes a word can be revocalized with different vowels, giving different meanings. Revocalizations are represented in purple in the diagram.

Other times, scholars disagree about what the original consonants of the text were. Consonantal emendation is usually a more weighty decision than that of revocalization, and requires careful consideration. Emendations are represented in light blue in the diagram.

Consider the following example from Ps 23:6, which has both a revocalization option and an emendation option (you can read our detailed exegetical issue for this issue here).

SimpleGrammar
    DiscourseUnit [Ps 23:6]
      Clause <status="alternative"> 
        Subject
        Predicate
          verb: שַׁבְתִּי I will return <prefix="וְ">
          Adverbial
            PrepositionalPhrase <gloss="to YHWH's house">
              Preposition
                preposition: בְּ 
              Object
                ConstructChain
                  noun: בֵית
                  noun: יְהוָה
          Adverbial
            PrepositionalPhrase <gloss="for as long as I live">
              Preposition
                preposition: לְ
              Object
                Nominal
                  ConstructChain 
                    noun: אֹרֶךְ
                    noun: יָמִים
        Predicate <status="alternative">
          verb: יָשַׁבְתִּי I will dwell <status="emendation"> 
      Conjunction <status="alternative"> 
        conjunction: <height="300">
      Clause 
        Subject <located="after infinitive construct">
          Clause 
            Subject <located="after infinitive construct">               
            Predicate 
              ConstructChain <gloss="I will dwell">
                verb-infinitive: שִׁבְתּ dwelling <status="revocalization">
                suffix-pronoun: ִי me 
        Predicate <gloss="I will dwell">
          verb: will be
          Adverbial
            PrepositionalPhrase <gloss="for as long as I live">
              Preposition
                preposition: לְ
              Object
                Nominal
                  ConstructChain
                    noun: אֹרֶךְ
                    noun: יָמִים 
          Complement
            PrepositionalPhrase <gloss="in YHWH's house">
              Preposition
                preposition: בְּ
              Object
                ConstructChain
                  noun: בֵית
                  noun: יְהוָה

The three options for this text are:

Hebrew	v.	Masoretic Text
וְשַׁבְתִּ֥י בְּבֵית־יְ֝הוָ֗ה לְאֹ֣רֶךְ יָמִֽים׃	6	I will return to the house of YHWH…

Hebrew	v.	Revocalization
וְשִׁבְתִּי בְּבֵית־יְ֝הוָ֗ה לְאֹ֣רֶךְ יָמִֽים׃	6	“and my dwelling will be in the house of YHWH…”

Hebrew	v.	Emendation
וְיָשַׁבְתִּי בְּבֵית־יְ֝הוָ֗ה לְאֹ֣רֶךְ יָמִֽים׃	6	“and I will dwell in the house of YHWH…”

Our preferred reading is the revocalization reading, so this is the one displayed in black. The Masoretic Text and the Emendation are dispreferred, and are listed in pink.

The vowels of וְשַׁבְתִּי can be plausibly re-read, re-vocalized, as וְשִׁבְתִּי. This would change the meaning from “I will return to the house of the LORD” to “and my dwelling will be in the house of the YHWH…”. Revocalizations are represented in purple in the diagram, as seen in the diagram above (you can select "full screen" or zoom in on the diagram to achieve a better view).

Another option scholars have proposed here is to emend the consonantal text from וְשַׁבְתִּי to וְיָשַׁבְתִּי. This would change to the meaning to “and I will dwell in the house of YHWH…”. All emendations are represented in light blue text, as shown in this example.

At Scriptura we are very hesitant to alter the received Masoretic Text text, and only do so if we are thoroughly convinced this is the more faithful reading. Almost all serious textual issues have an accompanying Exegetical Issue page and Exegetical Issue video.

Here are some examples:

For an introduction to our Exegetical Issue pages, see here.

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Lexical Semantics

The goal of Lexical Semantics is to understand the meaning of words. In our lexical semantics layer we do careful analysis of every word in the psalm and its semantic range.Semantic range: the range of possible meanings a word can have. We also create Venn diagrams which compare our modern cultural assumptions about a selected gloss (translation for a specific word) with the Ancient Near Eastern/Israelite cultural assumptions about the Hebrew word.

Method and Resources

Our lexical analysis depends primarily on the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (SDBH). This excellent resource provides definitions for every word, as well as analysis of lexical^[1] and contextual domains^[2]A contextual domain is the situation or setting in which a word is used, shaping its more specific or derived meanings. Thus run has different meanings in the different contextual domains of exercise ("run a mile"), technology ("the engine is running"), business ("who runs this shop?") and more. connected to those words.
For every word we choose a gloss, which is a close translation of that word which best represents its meaning in the specific context of the psalm. These glosses are included in the grammatical diagram and form the foundation for our Close-but-Clear translation of the whole psalm.

Ps 11:5 – “tight place >> distress”

Some words have two glosses which are connected to each other, joined together by the symbol >>. For example, the word מֵצַר in Ps 118:5 has “tight place >> distress”. In this case, there is a basic literal meaning (physical constraint of a tight place) and a metaphorical or more abstract meaning (distress). The gloss that is chosen for the Close-but-ClearThe Close-but-clear translation (CBC) exists to provide a window into the Hebrew text according to how we understand its syntax and word-to-phrase-level semantics. It is designed to be "close" to the Hebrew, while still being "clear." Specifically, the CBC encapsulates and reflects the following layers of analysis: grammar, lexical semantics, phrase-level semantics, and verbal semantics. It does not reflect our analysis of the discourse or of poetics. It is not intended to be used as a stand-alone translation or base text, but as a supplement to Layer-by-Layer materials to help users make full use of these resources. translation is put in bold (so in this case, the grammatical diagram shows “tight place >> distress”).

Venn Diagrams

Our Venn diagrams map out the relationship between the chosen gloss and the original Hebrew word, looking at where modern assumptions about the gloss overlap or don’t overlap with ancient Israelite assumptions about the original word. For example, the Venn diagram below looks at the relationship between the modern English word “sky” and the original Hebrew word שָׁמַיִם. Both have the shared meaning of “the area above the earth.” However, in Hebrew the word שָׁמַיִם refers to the highest level in the cosmos, and it has a theological meaning of God’s primary residence. In contrast, the English word “sky” is not the highest part of the cosmos (since “outer space” and “galaxy” are higher), and it usually has a more scientific sense of ozone layer and oxygen.

Phrase-Level Semantics

Psalm 19:5-6a Grammatical Diagram with Phrase-Level overlay

Our phrase-level notes address the meaning of word combinations, including construct phrases, prepositional phrases, nominal adverbs, phrase-level waw and hendiadys, appositional phrases, articles and quantifiers. Sometimes these word combinations (phrases) will produce a new meaning, and these are displayed in blue font, with the meaning of each individual word displayed in grey. Phrase-level analysis is overlaid on the grammatical diagram using different colours and symbols, allowing you to track these important word combinations. You can toggle the view of this by pressing “Phrase Ellipses” above the diagram.

Most analysis follows the terminology and categorisation found in BHRG,van der Merwe, C. H. J., J. A. Naudé, and J. H. Kroeze. 2017. A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar. 2nd ed. New York: Bloomsbury. with reference to other scholarly materials when needed. At the bottom of this page you can find appendices with detailed lists of different meanings for each kind of word combination.

Analysis & Visualization

Psalm 19:15 Grammatical Diagram with Phrase-Level overlay

Here is a general introduction to the Phrase-Level visualization, as presented in the Grammatical Diagram:

Construct Phrases: Construct phrases are a common way of combining two (or more) nouns and can have many different meanings, including for example possession (“the house of the king”), subject-object relations (“the blessing of the LORD”), or equalising relations (“words of insight”). See appendix below for a detailed list. In English these are commonly known as “construct chains”, “construct phrases”, or “genitive phrases”. The Hebrew label is smīḵūt (סְמִיכוּת). Construct phrases are visualized in the diagram using a yellow circle.
Prepositional Phrases: Prepositional phrases have a preposition (בּ, אֵל, etc…) as their head and a dependent (a nominal phrase following the preposition). Each preposition in Hebrew has a range of functions and usage, and every occurrence requires individual analysis. See appendix below for a list of resources for analysing prepositional phrases. In the diagram these are visualized with green circles.
Nominal Adverbs (note dotted outline): Nominal adverbs, sometimes labelled as “adverbial accusatives”, are noun-phrases which function adverbially, and often overlap in meaning with prepositional phrases. Consider for example Ps 55:18, “evening, morning, and noon I cry out…”, where the nouns “evening, morning, and noon” specify the time. These adverbs do not have a special phrase-level visualization, but have specific formatting in the grammatical diagram (see Grammar tab for details).
Phrase-level waw and Hendiadys: The conjunction waw (וְ) can join units of all sizes (words, phrases, clauses, paragraphs). In phrase-level analysis we focus on those waws which join words and phrases to form (larger) phrases. These are visualized with a purple circle.
Apposition: When two words are co-referential, we have what we call apposition. For example, "King David" or "David, the king", both refer to the same person, using two different labels. These are usually two adjacent nouns with the same syntactic function, but some appositional constructions are more complex. See appendix below for a list of range of meanings for apposition. In terms of visualization these are connecting using an equal symbol (=) in the diagram and overlaid with a hollow red circle.
Definite article: The definite article ( ּ הַ) give information about the identifiability or inclusiveness of the word to which they are attached, but it is sometimes important to clarify the specific meaning in certain cases. See appendix below for a range of possible functions and meanings. The article is visualised with a solid purple circle.
Quantifier כֹּל: The word כֹּל has an important function defining the scope of the word to which it is attached. See appendix below for detailed explanation on the functions of כֹּל. We visualize this quantifier with a solid turquoise circle.

Appendices

Appendix A: Construct Relations

The following list is taken from section §25.4 of van der Merwe et al. (2017, 226–229). You should be able to find all you need here. If not, the relevant sections in the other grammars are: Gesenius §89a, §128g–y; Joüon & Muraoka §129; Waltke & O’Connor §9.4–§9.5

Relationships of Possession

(1) Possession (concrete object)–possessor

The house of the king בֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ

(2) Possession (body part)–possessor

The lips of the king שִׂפְתֵי המֶּלֶךְ

(3) Possession (characteristic)–possessor

The majesty of the king הַדְרַת־המֶּלֶךְ

(4) Kinship/relationship–possessor

The sons of the king בְּנֵי המֶּלֶךְ

(5) Possessor–possession

The owner of the house בְּעַל הַבַּיִת

Subject and Object Relations

(1) Verbal notion–subject

The blessing of (or, by) the Lord בִּרְכַּת יהוה

(2) Verbal notion (passive)–agent

The murdered (ones) of the woman הֲרוּגֵי הָאִשָּׁה

(3) Verbal notion–object

The fear of (for) the Lord יִרְאָת יהוה

Partitive Relationships

(1) Part–divided whole

The members of (among) the prophet guild בְּנֵי הַנְּבִיאִים

(2) Superlative part–divided whole

The best (good) of (among) the sons טוֹב הַבָּנִים

(3) Speciﬁcation of undivided whole

All of the sons כָּל־הַבָּנִים

Equalising Relationships

(1) Entity–synonym

Joy of (viz.) rejoicing שִׂמְחַת גִּיל

(2) Entity–class (genus)

A fool of (viz.) a person כְּסִיל אָדָם

(3) Entity–type (species)

Sacrifices of (viz.) peace offerings זִבְחֵי שְׁלָמִים

(4) Entity–name

The river of (viz.) the Euphrates נְהַר פְרָת

(5) Entity–characteristic (description, attribute, quality)

Words of (with) insight אִמְרֵי בִינָה

Adverbial Relationships

(1) Entity–aim, goal or result

Stones of (meant for) a sling אַבְנֵי־קֶלַע

(2) Entity–manner

Riches of (acquired through) injustice אוֹצְרוֹת רֶשַׁע

(3) Entity–cause or reason

Exhausted (ones) of (due to) hunger מְזֵי רָעָה

(4) Entity–means (instrument)

The wounded (ones) of (by means of) the sword חַלְלֵי־הַחֶרֶב

(5) Entity–duration of time

A son of a year בֶּן־שָׁנָה

(6) Entity–direction

The (ones) going down (into the) pit יוֹרְדֵי בוֹר

(7) Entity–origin

The loot of (from) the cities שְׁלַל הֶעָרִים

Other Relationships

(1) Product–material

Vessels of silver כְּלֵי כֶסֶף

(2) Product–author, creator, source, origin

The book of (by) the man סֶפֶר הָאִישׁ

(3) Characteristic–with regard/respect to (speciﬁcation)

Foolish of (with respect to) lips אֱוִיל שְׂפָתַיִם

(4) Entity–interested (favoured/injured) party

The trap of (for, to the detriment of) a person מוֹקֵשׁ הָאָדָם

(5) Container–content

A bag of (full of) water חֵמַת מַיִם

Appendix B: Prepositions

A comprehensive list would be too big for these guidelines. We recommend that you consult BHRG §39 ^[3] (and, if necessary, GKC §119g–§119ii; Waltke-O’ Connor §11.2–§11.3; Joüon-Muraoka §133; Hardy, The Development of Biblical Hebrew Prepositions[SBL 2022]). If a certain case of either בְּ, כְּ or לְ is still uncertain after checking these standard reference grammars, Jenni's analysis (1992, 1994, 2000) should be consulted.

Appendix C: Nominal Adverbs

Often called "adverbial accusatives,"^[4] nominal adverbs are standard noun forms without any prepositional- or אֵת-marking that are used to modify a verbal event in terms of time, manner, or other semantic functions (see BHRG §33.2.3 and §33.3; GKC §118; Joüon-Muraoka §126).

Appendix D: Waw

The various functions of phrase-level waw are as follows.^[5]

1. Every entity (#a), groups of entities (#b) or only the last entity in the list (#c) to be added, is preceded by וְ. In negated clauses or conditional clauses, a list of “apparent” alternatives may be involved (#d).

a	כִּ֤י אָֽנֹכִי֙ נָתַ֣תִּי לָ֔הּ הַדָּגָ֖ן וְהַתִּיר֣וֹשׁ וְהַיִּצְהָ֑ר	that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine [lit. and the wine], and the oil (Hos. 2:10)
b	נֹתְנֵ֤י לַחְמִי֙ וּמֵימַ֔י צַמְרִ֣י וּפִשְׁתִּ֔י שַׁמְנִ֖י וְשִׁקּוּיָֽי	who give (me) my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink (Hos. 2:7)
c	כָּל־מְשׂוֹשָׂ֔הּ חַגָּ֖הּ חָדְשָׁ֣הּ וְשַׁבַּתָּ֑הּ	all her mirth, her feast(s), her new moon(s) and her sabbath(s) (Hos. 2:13)
d	לֹֽ֣א־תַעֲשֶׂ֣֨ה כָל־מְלָאכָ֡֜ה אַתָּ֣ה ׀ וּבִנְךָֽ֣־וּ֠בִתֶּ֗ךָ עַבְדְּךָ֤֨ וַאֲמָֽתְךָ֜֙ וּבְהֶמְתֶּ֔֗ךָ וְגֵרְךָ֖֙ אֲשֶׁ֥֣ר בִּשְׁעָרֶֽ֔יךָ	You shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, you manservant, or your maidsevant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates (Exod. 20:10).

Sometimes (#e) the phrases to be coordinated by וְ are split (called split coordination).

e	וְעָבְד֤וּ אֹתוֹ֙ כָּל־הַגּוֹיִ֔ם וְאֶת־בְּנ֖וֹ וְאֶֽת־בֶּן־בְּנ֑וֹ	And they shall serve him, all the nations, and his son and the son of his son (Jer. 27:7).

Sometimes (#f) two words form a type of ﬁxed compound. (If the word that is preceded by וְ is short then וָ is used instead of וְ.)

f	ט֣וֹב וָרָ֔ע	good and evil (Gen. 2:17)

2. Sometimes both the ﬁrst and the second entity of a coordinated phrase are preceded by וְ. It is then regarded as a correlative conjunction.

וּבְיִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל וּבָֽאָדָ֑ם	both in Israel and among all humankind (Jer. 32:20).

3. An apparently superfluous use of וְ (rare).

וַתֵּ֤שֶׁב תָּמָר֙ וְשֹׁ֣מֵמָ֔ה בֵּ֖ית אַבְשָׁל֥וֹם אָחִֽיהָ׃	So Tamar, [lit. and] a desolate woman, dwelt in the house of Absalom, her brother (2 Sam. 13:20).

Appendix E: Nouns in Apposition

The second member of the phrase elucidates the first in one of the following ways:^[6]

(1a) The second member designates the role/capacity of the first member.

שָׂרָ֥ה אִשְׁתּ֖וֹ Sarah, his wife (Gen. 20:2)

(1b) The second member designates the individual within the role/capacity of the first member.

הָ֝רִ֗יעוּ לִפְנֵ֤י׀ הַמֶּ֬לֶךְ יְהוָֽה Shout praise before the king, YHWH (Ps 98.6)

(2a) The second member specifies the status of the first member.

אִשָּׁה֩ אַלְמָנָ֨ה a woman, a widow (1 Kgs 7:14)

(2b) The second member specifies a characteristic action of the first member.

זֵדִ֣ים אֲרוּרִ֑ים הַ֝שֹּׁגִים מִמִּצְוֺתֶֽיךָ arrogant people, cursed, those who stray from your commandments (Ps 119.21)

(3a) The second member reveals a characteristic/quality of the first member.

אֲמָרִ֥ים אֱ֝מֶ֗ת words, truth (i.e. true words) (Prov. 22:21)

(3b) The second member reformulates the first member in terms of its effect.

הִ֝שְׁקִיתָ֗נוּ יַ֣יִן תַּרְעֵלָֽה you caused us to drink wine, staggering (Ps 60.5), i.e., wine, which causes us to stagger.

(4) The second member specifies the material from which the first member is made.

הַבָּקָ֥ר הַנְּחֹ֖שֶׁת the cattle, the bronze (i.e. the cattle made of bronze) (2 Kgs 16:17)

(5) The second member specifies the substance, a measuring unit or number of the first member.

סְאָֽה־סֹ֣לֶת ... וְסָאתַ֧יִם שְׂעֹרִ֛ים and a measure of fine meal... and two measures of barley (2 Kgs 7:1)

(6) The second member specifies the pronominal reference of the first member.

וַתִּרְאֵ֣הוּ אֶת־הַיֶּ֔לֶד And she saw him, the child (Exod. 2:6)

Appendix F: Determiners

Functions of the Definite Article

The following list is taken from van der Merwe et al. §24.4.4 unless otherwise noted. If none of these common functions fit, have a look at the following sections: Gesenius §126; Waltke & O’Conner §13.5.1–§13.5.2; Joüon & Muraoka §137f–§137n.

Note that 1–4 are known as the ‘semantic’ uses of the article (the article tells us something about the referent of the word to which it is attached), while 5–8 are ‘syntactic’ uses (the article combines with a noun in order to fill a particular role in the sentence). For the purposes of this visualisation, this distinction does not really matter, but it’s good to be aware.

Use	Explanation	Example	Comment
Identifiability - unique referent	The article is often used because the thing it’s attached to is the only one of its kind.	הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ ‘The Sun’	A speaker may expect the hearer to be able to identify the Sun because there is only one Sun in our world.
Identifiability - specific referent	The article is used on nouns that have been previously mentioned in a span of text.	וַיִּקַח…בֶן־הַבָּקָר ‘And he took…the calf’ (Gen 18.8).	The reader can identify the calf in question because it was introduced (without an article) in v. 7.
Identifiability - implication	The article can mark entities that we may infer are present in a situation (even if not previously mentioned).	וַתּעַר כַּדָּהּ אֶל־הַשֹּׁקֶת ‘And she emptied the jar into the trough’ (Gen 24.20).	The jar has to be emptied somewhere. That somewhere gets the article.
Inclusiveness - Class	The article is used to refer to all members of a certain class.	לֹא תואכְלוּ…אֶת־הַגָּמָל ‘Do not eat camels [lit., the camel]’ (Lev. 11.5).	No specific camel is in view here. Rather, all things that belong to the class ‘camel’.
Deixis (Demonstrative)	The article ‘points’ to something as especially relevant in the speech context	הַיוֹם lit. ‘the day (I am speaking)' > 'today' (Gen. 4.14).
Deixis (Vocative)	The article 'points' to single out an addressee.	חֵי נַּפְשְׁךָ הַמֶּלֶךְ ‘As surely as you live, O King’ (1 Sam 24.9)
Deixis (Anaphora)	The article can 'point' to an entity's identity as already mentioned and resume its discourse-active state.	לַיהוה הַנִּרְאֶה אֵלָיו ‘To the Lord, the one who had appeared to him’ (Gen 12.7).
Deixis (Superlative)	The article 'points' to an entity and singles it out from a given set regarding a certain characteristic attribute.	כִּי־אַתֶּם הַמְעַט מִכָּל־הָעַמִּים ‘You are the fewest of all the people’ (Deut. 7.7).

Functions of כֹּל

The noun כֹּל ‘all’ is used as a quantifier. Quantifiers specify the number of entities that satisfy the referent to which it is attached. The meaning of כֹּל depends on the definiteness and number of the noun to which it is attached. You will generally choose from the following four options, taken from van der Merwe et. al. (2017, 309–310)

With a singular and indefinite noun, כֹּל can be glossed ‘each; every individual’. That is the reference is to each discrete entity within an unidentifiable whole.^[7] So in the following example, God feels indignation each individual day for an unspecified length of time.

וְאֵ֗ל זֹעֵ֥ם בְּכָל־יֽוֹם׃

A God who feels indignation each/every day (Psa. 7.12)

With a plural and indefinite noun; כֹּל means ‘all; each and every one’. That is, the reference is to an unidentifiable whole that, of course, is composed of individual items.^[8] In the following example, notice that the verb is plural, because the reference is to the many tables that make up the unspecified whole.

כִּי כָּל־שֻׁלְחָנ֔וֹת מָלְא֖וּ קִ֣יא צֹאָ֑ה

All tables are filled with filthy vomit (Isa 28:8).

With a singular and definite noun; כֹּל can be glossed ‘all’. That is, the reference is to every member of an identifiable group. In the following example, Qohelet tells us each member of the group identifiable via common knowledge ‘mankind’ should eat, drink and be merry.

וְגַ֤ם כָּל־הָאָדָם֙ שֶׁיֹּאכַ֣ל וְשָׁתָ֔ה וְרָאָ֥ה ט֖וֹב בְּכָל־עֲמָל֑וֹ

And also all mankind should eat and drink and see good in all of his toil (Eccl. 3:13)

With a plural and definite noun; כֹּל can be glossed ‘all’. That is, the reference is to the totality of an identifiable group. In the following example, we find out the sum total of all the temple servants just listed. The temple servants are identifiable (they have the definite article) because they were previously mentioned in the text (v. 43).

כָּ֨ל־הַנְּתִינִ֔ים וּבְנֵ֖י עַבְדֵ֣י שְׁלֹמֹ֑ה שְׁלֹ֥שׁ מֵא֖וֹת תִּשְׁעִ֥ים וּשְׁנָֽיִם׃

All (the total) of the temple servants and the sons of Solomon’s servants—392 (Ezra 2:58).

(Click to expand)

Verbal Semantics

How to use the Verbal Semantics Page

Introduction

One of the most difficult issues in interpreting the psalms is verbal analysis. Consider, for example, these four different translations of Ps 3:8 (Eng. 3:7):

	Text	Verb Semantics
MT	כִּֽי־הִכִּ֣יתָ אֶת־כָּל־אֹיְבַ֣י לֶ֑חִי שִׁנֵּ֖י רְשָׁעִ֣ים שִׁבַּֽרְתָּ׃
NASB	For You have struck all my enemies on the cheek; You have shattered the teeth of the wicked.	Past
NET	Yes, you will strike all my enemies on the jaw; you will break the teeth of the wicked.	Future
NIV	Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.	Command
ESV	For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.	Present

As you can see in this example from Psalm 3, these four interpretations (past, future, command, and present) change how you read the psalm as a whole. Is David asking God to save him because God has struck his enemies in the past or because he will strike them in the future? Or is he commanding God to strike them? Or just describing generally how God strikes them, using the generic present tense? (You can read our discussion and answer here).

Verbs in Biblical Hebrew are often ambiguous and unclear, but in poetry they are especially difficult. Verb forms with predictable use in prose seem to be able to have almost any meaning in poetry, leading to such widely varying translations as in Psalm 3:8 [Eng 3:7] above. Reference materials are only so helpful, since scholars disagree about many foundational questions that influence how we analyze Hebrew verbsFor a recent overview on the history of interpreting the verbal system, see Ken Penner,"History of the Research on the Hebrew Verbal System.".

Our Resources

In light of these complexities our method for verbal analysis is constantly developing and taking into account recent scholarly advances. Currently our resources include: (1) verbal semantics notes and (2) verbal semantics chart. (3) A user-friendly summary of verbal analysis is currently in development.

Verbal Semantics Notes: The notes are included in the grammar and semantics page alongside grammar, lexical, phrase-level and textual notes. Here you’ll find a tab called “verbal” with notes and explanations for difficult verbs and discussion of different translations.
Verbal Semantics Chart: This verbal semantics chart is a much more detailed resource where we do our in depth analysis of each verb in the psalm and how they all fit together. This is a technical resource designed primarily for scholars. See the next section for more details on this chart.
User-Friendly Visual Summary: We are currently developing a more user-friendly presentation of our verbal analysis which makes the detailed chart accessible and helpful to users. Thank you for your patience as we work on this important resource.

Verbal Semantics Chart

This chart is currently found near the top of the Grammar and Semantics page under the heading “Psalm # Verbal Semantics”, and you can press the box to expand.

Psalm 3 Verbal Semantics Chart

You can read more about the theory behind this chart in the Key Concepts + Resources section below. Furthermore, all the symbols of the chart are listed in the Verbal Diagram Legend:

Verbal Diagram Legend

Conjugations
qatal	yiqtol-jussive
wayyiqtol (following qatal)*	cohortative
yiqtol	participle
wayyiqtol (following yiqtol)*	wayyiqtol (following participle)*
weyiqtol	inf. construct
weqatal	inf. absolute
*Wayyiqtol is colored a darker version of the conjugation it follows.

Relative tense arrows
Relative tense arrows (placed within the appropriate 'Fut/Pres/Past' column) are color coded according to the conjugation of the verb. The arrows in the table below are colored according to the typical uses of the conjugations.
After/posterior/future	Imminent future	Simultaneous/right now	Recent past	Before/anterior/past
← ←	↤	↓↓↓	↦	→ →

Aspect
	Continuous	Habitual or iterative	Stative	Perfective
Encoded in words	⟲	⟲⟲⟲	⎯	•
Inferable from context	⟲	⟲⟲⟲	⎯	•

Reference point movement
Movement	No movement
⇐	⇍

Modality
indicative	purpose/result
jussive	necessity
imperative	possible
cohortative	probable
wish	ability
(past) conditional	interrogative, etc.

If an emendation or revocalization is preferred, that emendation or revocalization will be marked in the Hebrew text of all the visuals.

Emendations/Revocalizations legend
Emended text	Emended text, text in which the consonants differ from the consonants of the Masoretic text, is indicated by blue asterisks on either side of the emendation.
Revocalized text	Revocalized text, text in which only the vowels differ from the vowels of the Masoretic text, is indicated by purple asterisks on either side of the revocalization.

To orient you to the content of the chart, there are five main sections:

Text + Translation (columns 1-4): Here we provide the Hebrew text and our Close-but-Clear translation. All verbs are given a specific color in both the Hebrew and English (see Legend for details). The fourth column lists the specific verb in isolation.
Morphology (columns 5-9): Here we break down the morphology of each verb in terms of its root, stem (aka binyan), conjugation, PGN (person-gender-number), and suffix (if present).
Time (columns 10-15): Here we analyse the time value of the verb according to its relative tense, aspect, and reference point movement. For explanations of these foundational concepts see the tabs below.
Modality (columns 16-17): Here we list the modality of the verb and the reasoning behind our analysis.
Notes: Explanatory notes showing different interpretations and the reasoning behind our interpretation. In important and complex cases we often create a full exegetical issue page and provide a link (as you can see for vv. 5, 6, and 8 in Psalm 3).

For detailed explanations of the key concepts behind our analysis, as well as further resources, see below.

1. Tense

Tense refers to the situation’s location in time: past, present, future, or timeless. Even these terms are a simplification, which is possible when the reference point is the time of speech:

past = prior to speech time (anterior)
present = simultaneous with speech time
future = after speech time (posterior)

When a different reference point is used, it is more accurate to simply speak of time anterior, simultaneous, or posterior (if marked at all for location in time). When speech time is always assumed as the reference point, it is called absolute tense. When the reference point depends on context, it is called relative tense.

Hebrew has a combination of absolute tense and relative tense. Precisely because the tenses can be relative, it is vital to know what the reference point is – what reference point the relative tense is relative to. (This is the reason for including reference point movement, below.)

In our chart, we mark the reference point (past/present/future) and the relative tense (anterior/simultaneous/posterior). The combination of these with the expected time reference movement is what shapes the absolute tense. The English CBC will normally indicate the absolute tense.

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2. Aspect

Aspect can be defined as “the ‘internal temporal constituency’ of a situation as portrayed (e.g., stative, continuous, or repeating)”.

Whereas tense refers to the location in time, as location on a timeline, aspect refers to the perspective of the text, which is generally explained by means of metaphor. Either the text can be looking “inside” a situation, with some part of the situation still taking place, or it can be looking from the “outside” at the situation, in which case the situation is viewed as a single moment in time, not ongoing.

In our chart, we track stative, continuous and repeating aspect, all varieties of seeing “within” a situation. If there are no markings, we understand aspect to default to perfectivity (from “without”).

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3. Reference Point Movement

The reference point is the key for understanding how tenses and aspects interact. For a prototypical story, the “current location in time” updates with each situation.

Story:

They entered the house and (then)
they say down and (then)
they ate and drank.

For a prototypical description, the “current location in time” remains the same:

Description:

The house was dark and (at the same time)
The animals were lying on the hearth and (at the same time)
The stew was boiling on the stove.

This illustrates reference point movement (as in the story) and absence of movement (as in the description), as shown in the parentheses of “and (then)” and “and (at the same time).” The significance of reference point movement (and lack of movement) can become very significant when making sense of larger sections or whole psalms.

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4. Modality

Hebrew only indicates a few kinds of modality in its verbs: imperatives, jussives and cohortatives. Other forms of modality are indicated by discourse markers rather than verbal form. In the chart we track both morphological modality as well as effective modality (e.g. possibility, purpose/result), along with the discourse reason (when it is nor morphologically marked).

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5. Examples

Psalm 24:2 (qatal and yiqtol in parallel)

כִּי־ה֭וּא עַל־יַמִּ֣ים יְסָדָ֑הּ

וְעַל־נְ֝הָר֗וֹת יְכוֹנְנֶֽהָ׃

Root	Stem	Conj	PGN	Suffix	Fut	Pres	Aspect	Movt	Modality	Close-but-clear
Morphology					Time				Modality
יסד	Qal	qatal	3ms	3fs		→		⇍	indicative	because he has laid its foundations upon the seas
כון	Polel	yiqtol	3ms	3fs		←	⟲	⇍	indicative	and keeps it established upon the oceans

Psalm 26:4 (qatal and yiqtol in parallel)

לֹא־יָ֭שַׁבְתִּי עִם־מְתֵי־שָׁ֑וְא

וְעִ֥ם נַ֝עֲלָמִ֗ים לֹ֣א אָבֽוֹא׃

This passage is a good example of how the English translation, based on our perception of reference point movement, is not determined from the local verb or even clause itself. The expected reference point movement is a feature of the larger discourse that shows up, encoded, in English verbs. This means we cannot give a proper translation into English until we have determined this larger discourse feature. (Or, more practically, we give it a go and revise as needed.)

Either of the below analyses is fully viable as far as the Hebrew is concerned. The appropriate English, reflecting reference point movement, will have to be determined from the larger discourse.

Interpreting this with no expected reference point movement

Root	Stem	Conj	PGN	Fut	Pres	Aspect	Movt	Modality	Close-but-clear
Morphology				Time				Modality
ישׁב	Qal	qatal	1cs		→		⇍	indicative	I have not sat with worthless folk
בוא	Qal	yiqtol	1cs		←	⟲⟲⟲	⇍	indicative	and I do not (regularly) go with hypocrites

Interpreting this with expected reference point movement

Root	Stem	Conj	PGN	Fut	Pres	Movt	Modality	Close-but-clear
Morphology				Time			Modality
ישׁב	Qal	qatal	1cs		→	⇐	indicative	I did not sit with worthless folk (in the past)
בוא	Qal	yiqtol	1cs		←	⇐	indicative	and I will not go with hypocrites (in the future)

Psalm 24:3 (yiqtol with permissive modality)

מִֽי־יַעֲלֶ֥ה בְהַר־יְהוָ֑ה

וּמִי־יָ֝קוּם בִּמְק֥וֹם קָדְשֽׁוֹ׃

Root	Stem	Conj	PGN	Fut	Pres	Movt	Modality	Reason	Close-but-clear
Morphology				Time			Modality
עלה	Qal	yiqtol	3ms		←	⇍	permission	interrogative pronoun + context	Who may go up on the mountain of YHWH?
קום	Qal	yiqtol	3ms		←	⇍	permission	interrogative pronoun + context	And who may stand within his holy place?

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6. Glossary

For terms not included here, please see SIL’s “Glossary of Linguistic Terms.”

Accomplishment: a situation type in which the event happens over time (durative), but does have a natural endpoint (telic). Unlike semelfactives (e.g., blink), accomplishments involve a change, e.g., run a mile; build a house.

Achievement: a situation type in which the event does not happen over time (punctual), but does have a result state. Achievements occur at a single moment, e.g., reached the top; find; win.

Activity: a situation type in which the event happens over time (durative), but doesn’t have a natural endpoint (atelic).

Aspect: a grammatical category which refers broadly to the relationship between a situation and time; cf. situation type; viewpoint aspect.

Atelic: see telicity.

Durativity: This aspectual property asks if the situation starts and stops. A durative situation extends over time (includes states, resultant states, and continuous action). E.g., She was swimming. A punctual situation is presented as happening instantaneously (includes repetitive actions). E.g., He kicked the ball (single), or He was kicking the ball (repetitive).

Phasal aspect:

Punctual: see durativity.

Semelfactive: a situation type in which the event is punctual, but without any resultant state.

Situation type: sometimes referred to as Aktionsart or situation aspect. The most basic distinction is between state and event. A state is a situation characterized by durativity and lack of change, e.g., possessing, desiring, loving, ruling, believing. An event is a situation in which something “happens,” e.g., eating, listening, teaching. An event may be one of four different situation types, see accomplishment; achievement; activity; semelfactive.

Telicity: the property of a situation which indicates whether or not the situation has a natural end point; a situation is either telic or atelic.

Tense: refers to a situation’s location in time.

Viewpoint aspect: sometimes referred to simply as aspect. The traditional distinction in viewpoint aspect is between perfective and imperfective aspect. This category is concerned with how the situation is represented, not its inherent properties. See perfective; imperfective.

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Additional Resources

Cook, John. “Actionality (Aktionsart): Pre-Modern Hebrew.” In Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics. Edited by Geoffrey Khan. Consulted online on 22 September 2021 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2212-4241_ehll_EHLL_COM_00000203>.

Fleischman, Suzanne. Tense and Narrativity: From Medieval Performance to Modern Fiction. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010. PDF here.

Gentry, Peter. “The System of the Finite Verb in Classical Biblical Hebrew.” Hebrew Studies 39 (1998): 7–39. Link here.

Hornkohl, Aaron. “Biblical Hebrew Tense–Aspect–Mood, Word Order and Pragmatics: Some Observations on Recent Approaches.” Open-access version here.

Hovav, Malka. “Lexicalized meaning and the internal temporal structure of events.” Pages 13–42 in S. Rothstein (ed.), Theoretical and Crosslinguistic Approaches to the Semantics of Aspect. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2008. Available as PDF here.

Joosten, Jan. “Do the Finite Verbal Forms in Biblical Hebrew Express Aspect?” JANES 29 (2002): 49–70.

Kroeger, Paul. Analyzing Meaning: An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics. Textbooks in Language Sciences 5. Berlin: Language Science Press, 2018. Part VI, “Tense & aspect” (pp. 377–446). This title can be downloaded here.

Levin, Beth. “Lexical Semantics of Verbs” course handouts. UC Berkeley, 2009. Course Page here. See especially “Lecture 4: Aspectual Approaches to Lexical Semantic Representation” (link). Cf. also Levin’s paper “Verb Classes within and across Languages,” 2013. (link)

McIntyre, Andrew. “Tense, Aspect and Situation Type."

Nadathur, Prerna. “Lexical Semantics” course handouts. Institut für Sprache und Information Heinrich Heine Universität, 2019–20. Course page here. See especially “Week 11: Aspect and aspectual classes I” (link).

“Tense, Aspect, and Modality with Nora Boneh (Part 1 of the Verbal Systems of the Biblical Languages series). The Biblical Languages Podcast. Biblingo, 2021. Link here.

Vendler, Z. “Verbs and Time.” Pages 97–121, Chapter 4 of Linguistics in Philosophy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1967. Link here.

Binnick, Robert. "Temporality and Aspectuality." Pp. 557-567 in M. Haspelmath (ed.), Language Typology and Language Universals. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2001.

Lindstedt, Jouko. "Tense and Aspect." Pp. 768-783 in M. Haspelmath (ed.), Language Typology and Language Universals. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, 2001.

Back to Table of Contents

Users Guide/Textual

↑ Every word belongs to a basic category of meaning called a lexical domain. This lexical domain is part of the word's core meaning that it has across all contexts. For example the word run belongs to the lexical domain of motion.
↑ A contextual domain is the situation or setting in which a word is used. This situation or setting shapes the word's more specific meanings. For example, the word run has different meanings in the different contextual domains of exercise ("run a mile"), technology ("the engine is running"), business ("who runs this shop?") and more.
↑ BHRG uses the language of ‘landmark’ and ‘trajector’ to describe the relationship between the entities on either side of a preposition. These two are standard terms in Cognitive Linguistics to refer to the cognitive figure, i.e., the salient constituent or head of the prepositional phrase, and the ground, against which the prepositional information about the figure is posited. So in the sentence ‘The lamp is under the table’, ‘lamp’ is the trajector because it is the entity doing the ‘being underneath’ something. Of course, neither entity is moving, but the perspective of this construal is 'about' the lamp in relation to the table. If the viewing arrangement were switched, i.e., 'The table is above the lamp', the table serves as the trajector and the lamp as the landmark., the lamp is the more ‘dynamic’ of the two since it is actually ‘doing’ something (viz., being under a table). Typically, what comes after the preposition (its dependent) is the landmark, and the trajector is the clausal constituent that the prepositional phrase is modifying.
↑ Though this type of terminology should be reserved for case-inflected languages, to which Biblical Hebrew does not belong.
↑ The following list is copied from Van der Merwe et. al. (2017, 419–420).
↑ The following categories are from BHRG §29.3 and Holmstedt & Jones 2017 (see also Joüon-Muraoka §131.
↑ In technical jargon, this is a distributive quantifier with the nuance of individualisation.
↑ In (yet more) technical jargon, this is a distributive quantifier without the nuance of individualisation.

[1] Every word belongs to a basic category of meaning called a lexical domain. This lexical domain is part of the word's core meaning that it has across all contexts. For example the word run belongs to the lexical domain of motion.

[2] A contextual domain is the situation or setting in which a word is used. This situation or setting shapes the word's more specific meanings. For example, the word run has different meanings in the different contextual domains of exercise ("run a mile"), technology ("the engine is running"), business ("who runs this shop?") and more.

[3] BHRG uses the language of ‘landmark’ and ‘trajector’ to describe the relationship between the entities on either side of a preposition. These two are standard terms in Cognitive Linguistics to refer to the cognitive figure, i.e., the salient constituent or head of the prepositional phrase, and the ground, against which the prepositional information about the figure is posited. So in the sentence ‘The lamp is under the table’, ‘lamp’ is the trajector because it is the entity doing the ‘being underneath’ something. Of course, neither entity is moving, but the perspective of this construal is 'about' the lamp in relation to the table. If the viewing arrangement were switched, i.e., 'The table is above the lamp', the table serves as the trajector and the lamp as the landmark., the lamp is the more ‘dynamic’ of the two since it is actually ‘doing’ something (viz., being under a table). Typically, what comes after the preposition (its dependent) is the landmark, and the trajector is the clausal constituent that the prepositional phrase is modifying.

[4] Though this type of terminology should be reserved for case-inflected languages, to which Biblical Hebrew does not belong.

[5] The following list is copied from Van der Merwe et. al. (2017, 419–420).

[6] The following categories are from BHRG §29.3 and Holmstedt & Jones 2017 (see also Joüon-Muraoka §131.

[7] In technical jargon, this is a distributive quantifier with the nuance of individualisation.

[8] In (yet more) technical jargon, this is a distributive quantifier without the nuance of individualisation.

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[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

Users Guide: Semantics

Book 1

Book 2

Book 3

Book 4

Book 5

Semantics

Grammar

Basic Concepts

The Core: Subject + Verb

Subject + Verb + Object

Subject + Complement (Verbless Clause)

Modifiers

Legend

Alternatives

Grammatical Alternative

Revocalization + Emendation

Lexical Semantics

Method and Resources

Venn Diagrams

Phrase-Level Semantics

Analysis & Visualization

Appendices

Appendix A: Construct Relations

Relationships of Possession

Subject and Object Relations

Partitive Relationships

Equalising Relationships

Adverbial Relationships

Other Relationships

Appendix B: Prepositions

Appendix C: Nominal Adverbs

Appendix D: Waw

Appendix E: Nouns in Apposition

Appendix F: Determiners

Functions of the Definite Article

Functions of כֹּל

Verbal Semantics

Introduction

Our Resources

Verbal Semantics Chart

Key Concepts + Resources

1. Tense

2. Aspect

3. Reference Point Movement

4. Modality

5. Examples

Psalm 24:2 (qatal and yiqtol in parallel)

Psalm 26:4 (qatal and yiqtol in parallel)

Interpreting this with no expected reference point movement

Interpreting this with expected reference point movement

Psalm 24:3 (yiqtol with permissive modality)

6. Glossary

Additional Resources