B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

הנה על ההרים רגלי מבשר משמיע שלום חגי יהודה חגיך שלמי נדריך כי לא יוסיף עוד לעבר בך בליעל כלה נכרת
Is there any way to determine whether מבשר couldn't be a noun, rather than a participle?

This verse came up on another forum regarding participles, and I can't really figure out if there's a definite way to determine whether a participle, couldn't just be a noun.

The same applies to משמיע: does this have to be a participle, or is it a construct noun?

"Look upon the mountains! The feet of the herald, the announcer of peace: "Celebrate your festivals, O Judah! Complete your vows! For never again shall he invade you; the evil one has finally been cut down!"

S_Walch wrote:Is there any way to determine whether מבשר couldn't be a noun, rather than a participle?

Most “participles” in Biblical Hebrew are really nouns. One use is similar to the English gerund. Another refers to the actor performing the action.

As for translation, because of the differences between the grammars and syntaxes of the Biblical Hebrew and English, it’s often smoother to translate them as verbs in English when they are really nouns and gerunds in Hebrew.

S_Walch wrote:This verse came up on another forum regarding participles, and I can't really figure out if there's a definite way to determine whether a participle, couldn't just be a noun.

Which other forum?

The more I read Bible, the more I’m inclined to think that there’s no such thing as a participle in Biblical Hebrew. But translation is a different thing, as noted above, so how we translate is different from how we understand the text within pre-Babylonian exile Biblical Hebrew.

S_Walch wrote:The same applies to משמיע: does this have to be a participle, or is it a construct noun?

Noun.

S_Walch wrote:"Look upon the mountains! The feet of the herald, the announcer of peace: "Celebrate your festivals, O Judah! Complete your vows! For never again shall he invade you; the evil one has finally been cut down!"

A rather free translation, but yeah, close enough.

Karl W. Randolph.