B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

In Biblical Hebrew, would "will not lie" be written

לֹ֣א יכזב

Or

יכזב לֹ֣א ?

(In other words, would the negative particle proceed or follow the word it was modifying?)

As a general rule the negation comes immediately before the element negated.
So you would find Hab 2:3 to be written as וְלֹא יְכַזֵּב = "and it will not lie"

Thank you

markofcain wrote:As a general rule the negation comes immediately before the element negated.
So you would find Hab 2:3 to be written as וְלֹא יְכַזֵּב = "and it will not lie"

Thank you.

So if you wanted to say "Jacob will not lie" (reading right to left) how would you write it?

Could it be written as follows?

בלוא יכזב יעקב

Or would it be written like this?

יעקב בלוא יכזב

"Jacob will not lie" would be like this.

Ben Putnam wrote:"Jacob will not lie" would be like this.

יעקב לא יכזב

ya`aqov lo yexazzev

Thank you.

Why would you have to use לא instead of בלוא?

lo לא would be the normal way of negating. belo בלא/בלוא would have a meaning similar to 'without'. See Proverbs 14:5 for a similar construction.

Ben Putnam wrote:lo לא would be the normal way of negating. belo בלא/בלוא would have a meaning similar to 'without'. See Proverbs 14:5 for a similar construction.

משלי 14:5
עֵ֣ד אֱ֭מוּנִים לֹ֣א יְכַזֵּ֑ב וְיָפִ֥יחַ כְּ֝זָבִ֗ים עֵ֣ד שָֽׁקֶר׃

So it could be written יעקב בלוא יכזב ?

And that construction would be acceptable (and grammatically correct)?

markofcain wrote:As a general rule the negation comes immediately before the element negated.
So you would find Hab 2:3 to be written as וְלֹא יְכַזֵּב = "and it will not lie"

Are there exceptions to this rule?

For example, are there times when the negation comes immediately after the element negated?

(Like in English, if I were to say "I kid you not," instead of saying "I'm not kidding you.")

Would it make any sense to write the following?

אכזב לא

Or

אהרון יכזב בלוא

I don't think יעקב בלא יכזב would work for what you want to say.

With לא I may very well be wrong here, but I think it has to immediately precede the word and cannot be placed after it.