B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

The phrase שׁוֹר נַגָּח הוּא in Exod 21:29 appears consistently to be understood as a predicate verbless clause of classification, with the form Noun + Noun + Pronoun (Subject + Predicate + Pronoun or Nominative Absolute + Predicate + Subject). Based on their discussion, Waltke-O'Connor would presumably translate this as "As for the ox, it is a gorer." (See Waltke-O'Connor 8.4.2b; 16.3.3d.) For other examples of this pattern see Num 1:4; Lev 11:41.

However, since נַגָּח is an adjective, would it be possible to take נַגָּח as an attributive instead of a predicate adjective, and translate "it is a goring ox" (on the analogy of Exod 34:14)?

Thanks for your help!

David

I take this as a typical example of grammarians making a reading more complex than is necessary.

In languages that allow for verbless sentences with an understood “to be” as the verb, Biblical Hebrew being one of those languages, this comes out as a simple “If it is a goring ox from before…”, or as almost word for word, “If a goring ox is he from before…”.

All that extra labeling becomes superfluous.

Just my 2¢.

Karl W. Randolph.

But "goring" can function as an adjective or substantivally as a noun. You are taking it adjectivally. It is also possible to take it substantivally: "If the ox is a gorer." As I browse through examples, it looks like the adjectival pattern is more common. But Neh 8:9 seems to be a parallel: ‎ הַיּ֤וֹם קָדֹֽשׁ־הוּא--not "It is a holy day", but "the day is holy." In Neh 8:9, unlike Exod 21:29 the first noun has the article.

David M. Miller wrote:But "goring" can function as an adjective or substantivally as a noun. You are taking it adjectivally. It is also possible to take it substantivally: "If the ox is a gorer." As I browse through examples, it looks like the adjectival pattern is more common.

This is an example of how English and Hebrew are different. A good translator will translate the sentence more along the lines as you have done, because that’s the way the idea comes out better in English.

My translation that I gave in my previous message is how the Hebrew reads it.

David M. Miller wrote:But Neh 8:9 seems to be a parallel: ‎ הַיּ֤וֹם קָדֹֽשׁ־הוּא--not "It is a holy day", but "the day is holy." In Neh 8:9, unlike Exod 21:29 the first noun has the article.

Did you forget something? Is not היום the ancient Biblical Hebrew way of saying “today”? So a wooden translation probably would come out as “Today it is set apart (holy)”?

The whole phrase comes out as היום קדש הוא ליהוה אלהיכם “Today, it is set apart to יהוה your God,…”

Just my 2¢.

Karl W. Randolph.