B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

Psalm 119:166
שִׂבַּ֣רְתִּי לִישׁוּעָֽתְךָ֣ יְהוָ֑ה וּֽמִצְוֺתֶ֥יךָ עָשִֽׂיתִי׃

This verse showed up on today’s Daily Dose, where the confusion between sin and shin was mentioned as leading in the direction of a wrong understanding. It’s quite interesting.

The piel can be used with both roots, so that piel שִׁבַּ֫רְתִּי šibbártî is “I shattered, broke to pieces” (an intensive of qal שָׁבַ֫רְתִּי “I broke”), and piel שִׂבַּ֫רְתִּי śibbártî is “I waited.” There is a related segolate noun שֶׂ֫בֶר “hope.”

The more common forms for “I waited” are qal קָוִ֫יתִי qāvî́ṯî (the intensive of which is piel קִוִּ֫יתִי qivvî́ṯî “I hoped”), piel חִכִּ֫יתִי ḥikkî́ṯî, and hiphil הִמְתַּ֫נְתִּי himtántî.

So, this verse is “I have waited/hoped for your deliverance, O Yahweh, and performed your commandments.”

Can you think of any other synonyms or partial synonyms of this word?

Jason Hare wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 6:45 am Psalm 119:166
שִׂבַּ֣רְתִּי לִישׁוּעָֽתְךָ֣ יְהוָ֑ה וּֽמִצְוֺתֶ֥יךָ עָשִֽׂיתִי׃

This verse showed up on today’s Daily Dose, where the confusion between sin and shin was mentioned as leading in the direction of a wrong understanding. It’s quite interesting.

The piel can be used with both roots, so that piel שִׁבַּ֫רְתִּי šibbártî is “I shattered, broke to pieces” (an intensive of qal שָׁבַ֫רְתִּי “I broke”), and piel שִׂבַּ֫רְתִּי śibbártî is “I waited.” There is a related segolate noun שֶׂ֫בֶר “hope.”

The more common forms for “I waited” are qal קָוִ֫יתִי qāvî́ṯî (the intensive of which is piel קִוִּ֫יתִי qivvî́ṯî “I hoped”), piel חִכִּ֫יתִי ḥikkî́ṯî, and hiphil הִמְתַּ֫נְתִּי himtántî.

So, this verse is “I have waited/hoped for your deliverance, O Yahweh, and performed your commandments.”

Can you think of any other synonyms or partial synonyms of this word?

First of all, שבר is sometimes spelled with a sin, sometimes with a shin. yet the meaning of both “to look to, in the sense of looking over, inspecting, looking to as in making sure something gets done, provided for Jb 38:10 ⇒ to look after in the sense of taking care of, providing for Gn 41:56–7 ⇒ to look to in the sense of expectation, waiting for Rt 1:13, Is 38:18, Es 9:1”

Then there is the homograph (homonym?) שבר meaning “to break or tear apart”

I see the first meaning as the correct one for this verse.

Incidentally, I’ve noticed several words that are sometimes spelled with a sin, sometimes with a shin, which is one reason I say that the sin and shin were originally one letter that had one pronunciation.

Karl W. Randolph.

kwrandolph wrote: ↑Sat Jan 29, 2022 2:06 pm Incidentally, I’ve noticed several words that are sometimes spelled with a sin, sometimes with a shin, which is one reason I say that the sin and shin were originally one letter that had one pronunciation.

Do you have examples that come to mind? This isn’t a phenomenon that I’m familiar with.

When I read with points, I noticed words like חפש, עשק, פרש, שחה, שרר where we can see a singular action sometimes spelled with a sin, sometimes with a shin.

I look at these according to action, not according to form.

Karl W. Randolph.