Jason Hare wrote:Hi, Ste!
Since it says "Jacob his father," I think the appositive would best present the name and then the identifier. Wouldn't you agree? That is, יעקב אביו rather than אביו יעקב. It also sounds more natural.
Indeed. I'll have a look through the Tanakh to get a statistic for how often such a sequence occurs.
If you want to use עמי for "with me," it should have a dagesh in the mem (עִמִּי). It is geminate, the root being עמ״ם. Similarly, עַמִּי "my people" is geminite.
Knew there'd be something in the niqqud I'd forget.
Least it's only one thing this time! Getting better.
I wonder what the statistics are of uses of עמי versus עמדי.
Ooo, something right up my street!
עִם - used 1,048 times in the Tanakh, starting at Genesis 3:6 through to Zechariah 14:5.
עִמָּד - used 45 times in the Tanakh: Gen 3:12; Gen 19:19; Gen 20:9; Gen 20:13; Gen 21:23; Gen 28:20; Gen 29:19; Gen 29:27; Gen 31:5; Gen 31:7; Gen 31:32; Gen 35:3; Gen 40:14; Gen 47:29; Exod 17:2; Lev 25:23; Deut 5:31; Deut 32:34; Deut 32:39; Judg 17:10; Ruth 1:8; 1 Sam 10:2; 1 Sam 20:14; 1 Sam 20:28; 1 Sam 22:23; 2 Sam 10:2; 2 Sam 19:34; Ps 23:4; Ps 50:11; Ps 55:19; Ps 101:6; Job 6:4; Job 9:35; Job 10:12; Job 10:17; Job 13:19; Job 13:20; Job 17:2; Job 23:6; Job 23:10; Job 28:14; Job 29:5; Job 29:6; Job 29:20; Job 31:13.
My heart goes toward עמדי because of Psalm 23 "I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me."
גַּ֤ם כִּֽי־אֵלֵ֨ךְ בְּגֵ֪יא צַלְמָ֡וֶת לֹֽא־אִ֘ירָ֤א רָ֗ע כִּֽי־אַתָּ֥ה עִמָּדִ֑י
שִׁבְטְךָ֥ וּ֝מִשְׁעַנְתֶּ֗ךָ הֵ֣מָּה יְנַֽחֲמֻֽנִי׃
I grew up in the countryside of rural Missouri, and sometimes I ended up walking on dark roads late at night, and reciting Psalm 23 calmed my nerves when I was afraid of something popping up out of the dark. As soon as I learned Hebrew, this was one of the first passages that I committed to memory, so עמדי has stuck with me since then.
Love anecdotes like this. It's definitely a go-to Psalm for many people.