B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

Next!
Good luck!

Hidden Hebrew Text

וַיִּגְּשׁוּ בְנֵי־רְאוּבֵן אֶל־מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמְרוּ אֵלָיו אִם מָצָ֫אנוּ חֵן בְּעֵינֶ֫יךָ תֵּן נָא לָ֫נוּ אֶת־הֶֽעָרִים הָאֵ֫לֶּה וְגַ֫רְנוּ בָּהֶן׃

I don’t like the combination תֵּן נָא לָ֫נוּ, but I patterned it off of הַגִּ֫ידִי נָא לִי from Genesis 24:23. The combination itself is not found in the biblical text, nor is תֶּן־לָ֫נוּ נָא. I went with the one that fit the pattern closest, but I still don’t like it.

In the modern language, we can use נָא by simply using the infinitive (נָא לָתֵת לָ֫נוּ “please, give us”). This also eliminates the necessity to use specific gender and number in the imperative.

Here is my first attempt.
I followed Genesis 18:3 for the first part of the request, except that I moved the נָא to after תֵּן.

Hidden Hebrew Text

וַיַּקְרִבוּ בְּנֵי רְאוּבֵן וְיֹאמְרוּ לוֹ אִם מָצָאנוּ חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ תֵּן־נָא לָנוּ אֶת הָעֵרִים אֵלֶּה וְיֹּשְׁבוּ בָּהֶם

Hi, Jordan!

The first verb that you’ve used here is pointed as if it were hiphil defective (vayyaqrī́ḇû). Notice the a-vowel in the first syllable and the i-vowel in the second. In hiphil, it means “offer, sacrifice.” The qal, which means “draw near,” uses i-vowel in the first syllable and a-vowel in the second. That is, vayyiqraḇ, which becomes vayyiqrəḇû (וַיִּקְרְבוּ) in the plural.

Apart from that, there is a pointing problem with the next vav-consecutive, since part of the vav-consecutive construction is that it has an a-vowel under the vav (וַיֹּאמְרוּ rather than וְיֹאמְרוּ). The next verb “and we will dwell” uses the perfect form with the vav prefix: וְיָשַׁ֫בְנוּ.

You should look at the vowel in the plural form of עִיר, which is with qamats (עָרִים). It also takes a special form with the article (הֶֽעָרִים), and the demonstrative needs to match its definiteness (הֶֽעָרִים הָאֵ֫לֶּה). (For fun, Ugaritic “city” is 𐎓𐎗 [ʿr].)

The rest is great.

jordan17182 wrote: ↑Thu Nov 25, 2021 10:57 pm Here is my first attempt.
I followed Genesis 18:3 for the first part of the request, except that I moved the נָא to after תֵּן.

Hidden Hebrew Text

וַיַּקְרִבוּ בְּנֵי רְאוּבֵן וְיֹאמְרוּ לוֹ אִם מָצָאנוּ חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ תֵּן־נָא לָנוּ אֶת הָעֵרִים אֵלֶּה וְיֹּשְׁבוּ בָּהֶם

Jorden:

Three things I noticed:

You left off the name “Moses” which is in the original sentence.

When you have a definite plural, as in הערים, “these” usually also has the definite article האלה.

The final verb you changed from first person to third person. The context of the sentence is first person plural.

I would suggest Numbers 32:2 and 5, to see how the idea was written up there.

Otherwise, a good first try.

Karl W. Randolph.

Well, if the next exercise is on its way, then here is my translation:

קרבו בני ראובן אל משה ויאמרו אליו אם מצאנו חן בעיניך יתן נא את הערים האלה לנו לאחזה ונשב בם

I immediately recognized it as a take-off of Numbers 32

2 ויבאו בני גד ובני ראובן ויאמרו אל משה ואל אלעזר הכהן ואל נשיאי העדה לאמר

5 ויאמרו אם מצאנו חן בעיניך—יתן את הארץ הזאת לעבדיך לאחזה  אל תעברנו את הירדן

Notes:

I don’t bother with this hide text feature, because it’s so easy to get around.

I wanted to use a Wayyiqtol as the introductory verb, which would have been the correct form if this were a continuation from a previous verse as in Numbers 32:2, but the sentence as written doesn’t have that context. Hence the form is a Qatal verb.

The verbs קרב נגש בוא are close enough in meaning in this context that any of them could have been used.

Adding the word אחזה was not necessary. I just added it to emphasize that the cities were to be settlements for the people.

The final verb is a Wayyiqtol because it’s a continuation of the theme, and because it’s in the context “that we should” modality.

The verb ישב “to settle down” is used both in the context of sitting down, and in dwelling in a place. Here I use it in the second sense.

Karl W. Randolph.