Some questions about Psalm 96

[Stephen Hughes]

I want to read through some Hebrew to try and get back into reading - For want of a better choice I'll start with Psalm 96 which looks structurally straightforward and repetitive.

I appreciate some help with a few questions;

שִׁ֣ירוּ לַ֭יהוָה שִׁ֣יר חָדָ֑שׁ שִׁ֥ירוּ לַ֝יהוָ֗ה כָּל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

• (1) Here the Hebrew is in the right order, but when I cut and paste text from a website to MS-word, how can I un-reverse the order of the words?
  (2) שִׁ֣יר is a masculine singular noun. Is חָדָ֑שׁ also declinable
  (3) How do I know from the word that it is transliterated (pronounced) as "shiyr" not "shir"? Is that by recognising from the syntax the part of speech that it is?
  (4) If memory serves me כָּל is pronounced like كل. Is that only in compound? How do I know that from the spelling?

שִׁ֣ירוּ לַ֭יהוָה בָּרֲכ֣וּ שְׁמ֑וֹ בַּשְּׂר֥וּ מִיּֽוֹם־לְ֝י֗וֹם יְשׁוּעָתֽוֹ׃

• (5) I get that בַּשְּׂר֥וּ is another masculine plural imperative, obviously related to نشر, but what sort of form is יְשׁוּעָתֽוֹ ? It obviously has something like the name of Jesus in the there, the final תֽוֹ- is like the difference between خلاص and خلاصه so I proabably understand that part of it. Is the יְ on the front a 3rd person element?
  (6) Is putting the adverbial phrase between a verb and its object something completely normal - poetic - off-beat?

סַפְּר֣וּ בַגּוֹיִ֣ם כְּבוֹד֑וֹ בְּכָל־הָֽ֝עַמִּ֗ים נִפְלְאוֹתָֽיו׃

• (7)I need a hint to get a hold of this word כְּבוֹד֑וֹ . What is its root and cognates?
  (8) For בְּכָל־הָֽ֝עַמִּ֗ים , I'm wondering the same thing as in my question 6 for verse 2 above.

Thank you in advance for any help or advice anyone could offer. I will be able to make sense of references to Akkadian, Arabic and Syriac if anyone wants to include them in an answer.

[SteveMiller]

שִׁ֣ירוּ לַ֭יהוָה שִׁ֣יר חָדָ֑שׁ שִׁ֥ירוּ לַ֝יהוָ֗ה כָּל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

• (1) Here the Hebrew is in the right order, but when I cut and paste text from a website to MS-word, how can I un-reverse the order of the words?

Is it Windows 7? From which website are you pasting Hebrew into MS-Word? Are you saying that the Hebrew pastes incorrectly into Word?

(2) שִׁ֣יר is a masculine singular noun. Is חָדָ֑שׁ also declinable

The adjective חָדָ֑שׁ is also masculine singular.

(3) How do I know from the word that it is transliterated (pronounced) as "shiyr" not "shir"? Is that by recognising from the syntax the part of speech that it is?

the dot under the shin is the vowel chirik. The way I was taught, chirik is always pronounced like a long e, but when followed by a yod, the e sound is longer.

(4) If memory serves me כָּל is pronounced like كل. Is that only in compound? How do I know that from the spelling?[/list]

Your question might be over my head. I don't know what that other language is that you have there. כָּל is pronounced like English "call". The dot inside the kaf gives it a hard c sound. The qametz under the kaf is the "aw" sound.

שִׁ֣ירוּ לַ֭יהוָה בָּרֲכ֣וּ שְׁמ֑וֹ בַּשְּׂר֥וּ מִיּֽוֹם־לְ֝י֗וֹם יְשׁוּעָתֽוֹ׃

• (5) I get that בַּשְּׂר֥וּ is another masculine plural imperative, obviously related to نشر, but what sort of form is יְשׁוּעָתֽוֹ ? It obviously has something like the name of Jesus in the there, the final תֽוֹ- is like the difference between خلاص and خلاصه so I proabably understand that part of it. Is the יְ on the front a 3rd person element?

It is a noun meaning salvation. The תֽוֹ suffix is the 3ms suffix, so the word means "His salvation". The leading yod here is just part of the word.

(6) Is putting the adverbial phrase between a verb and its object something completely normal - poetic - off-beat?[/list]

good question. The way to find out would be to search for adverbs modifying verbs with objects. How often are the adverbs between the verb and object?
I searched for the word "daily" in English:
adverb follows object: Judges 16:16; Esther 3:4; Prov 8:30, 34; Jer 37:21; Ezek 43:25; 45:23; 46:13
adverb between verb and object: none

searching for "day by day" in English:
adverb follows object: Gen 39:10; Exo 29:38; Num 28:3; 2Chr 21:15; 30:21; Ezra 6:9; Neh 8:18;
adverb preceeds verb: 1Chr 12:22; Ps 68:19
adverb between verb and object: none

So I think that it is unusual to have the adverb or adverbial phrase between the verb and its object. I think it adds emphasis to the adverb by putting it earlier. Or in this case it may add emphasis to the object by making it the last word of the sentence in a song.

סַפְּר֣וּ בַגּוֹיִ֣ם כְּבוֹד֑וֹ בְּכָל־הָֽ֝עַמִּ֗ים נִפְלְאוֹתָֽיו׃
(7)I need a hint to get a hold of this word כְּבוֹד֑וֹ . What is its root and cognates?

It's root is the verb כַּבֵּ֤ד meaning to honor or make heavy.

[Stephen Hughes]

שִׁ֣ירוּ לַ֭יהוָה שִׁ֣יר חָדָ֑שׁ שִׁ֥ירוּ לַ֝יהוָ֗ה כָּל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

(1) Here the Hebrew is in the right order, but when I cut and paste text from a website to MS-word, how can I un-reverse the order of the words?

Is it Windows 7? From which website are you pasting Hebrew into MS-Word? Are you saying that the Hebrew pastes incorrectly into Word?

Thanks for your response.

I see what the problem is now. It is not exactly making the text in the exact reverse order, but the mixed English and Hebrew does really weird things with auto linewrapping, like half of the line of Hebrew text is carried before the English as I type. Open office seems to have the same problem.

Is there a convention for interspersing Hebrew with R-L languages so the sentences don't get sort of divided up?

[Stephen Hughes]

(2) שִׁ֣יר is a masculine singular noun. Is חָדָ֑שׁ also declinable

The adjective חָדָ֑שׁ is also masculine singular.

What would the forms of this adjective be for the plural and for feminine singular and plural?

(4) If memory serves me כָּל is pronounced like كل. Is that only in compound? How do I know that from the spelling?

... I don't know what that other language is that you have there. כָּל is pronounced like English "call". The dot inside the kaf gives it a hard c sound. The qametz under the kaf is the "aw" sound.

The other language that I have written here is Arabic. I was just trying to relate my previous knowledge to this what we were discussion here. It doesn't matter about it.

Do you mean that whenever a qametz is under a kaf with a dot in it, it is pronounced like that? Is it that simple?

[SteveMiller]

שִׁ֣ירוּ לַ֭יהוָה שִׁ֣יר חָדָ֑שׁ שִׁ֥ירוּ לַ֝יהוָ֗ה כָּל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃
(1) Here the Hebrew is in the right order, but when I cut and paste text from a website to MS-word, how can I un-reverse the order of the words?

Is it Windows 7? From which website are you pasting Hebrew into MS-Word? Are you saying that the Hebrew pastes incorrectly into Word?

Thanks for your response.

I see what the problem is now. It is not exactly making the text in the exact reverse order, but the mixed English and Hebrew does really weird things with auto linewrapping, like half of the line of Hebrew text is carried before the English as I type. Open office seems to have the same problem.

Is there a convention for interspersing Hebrew with R-L languages so the sentences don't get sort of divided up?

I need to know answers to the questions I asked you in order to see if I can duplicate it. I do not have a problem pasting Hebrew from crosswire.org into Word on Windows 7.

[SteveMiller]

(2) שִׁ֣יר is a masculine singular noun. Is חָדָ֑שׁ also declinable

The adjective חָדָ֑שׁ is also masculine singular.

What would the forms of this adjective be for the plural and for feminine singular and plural?

חֲדָשִׁים masc plural
חֲדָשָׁ֔ה fem singular
חֲדָשׁוֹת fem plural

(4) If memory serves me כָּל is pronounced like كل. Is that only in compound? How do I know that from the spelling?

... I don't know what that other language is that you have there. כָּל is pronounced like English "call". The dot inside the kaf gives it a hard c sound. The qametz under the kaf is the "aw" sound.

The other language that I have written here is Arabic. I was just trying to relate my previous knowledge to this what we were discussion here. It doesn't matter about it.

Do you mean that whenever a qametz is under a kaf with a dot in it, it is pronounced like that? Is it that simple?

It is even simpler, but I forgot that there are 2 dialects.
kaf with a dot in it is always pronounced as a hard c.
a qametz is always prounouced as "aw" according to Ashkenazi dialect.
The Sephardic dialect always pronounces qametz as "ah", and thus makes no difference in pronunciation between qametz and patach.
I am used to the Ashkenazi pronunciation, but that is dying out.

[Stephen Hughes]

I need to know answers to the questions I asked you in order to see if I can duplicate it. I do not have a problem pasting Hebrew from crosswire.org into Word on Windows 7.

I'm using XPSP3 English and Word 2003. The site that I am pasting from is Katabiblon.

It is not consistant, but what seemes to be happening when I mix Hebrew and English is that if the Hebrew inside the English which goes for more than one line then it looks like this

E1 E2 E3 H4 H3 H2 H1
H6 H5 E4 E5 E6.
or this
E1 H5 H4 H3 H2 H1
E2 E3 E4 E5 E6.

[Stephen Hughes]

סַפְּר֣וּ בַגּוֹיִ֣ם כְּבוֹד֑וֹ בְּכָל־הָֽ֝עַמִּ֗ים נִפְלְאוֹתָֽיו׃

(7)I need a hint to get a hold of this word כְּבוֹד֑וֹ . What is its root and cognates?

It's root is the verb כַּבֵּ֤ד meaning to honor or make heavy.

When the vav is introduced, is that a derivational morpheme giving כִּבּוּד which functions as a verb and noun, or just as a noun?
I see that the triliteral root of נִפְלְאוֹתָֽיו is פלא and I'm wondering whether the Nun on the front of נִפְלְאוֹתָֽיו like the مَكْتُوب "written" nominal form of the verb in Arabic - "his things that have been wondered at"?

[SteveMiller]

I'm using XPSP3 English and Word 2003. The site that I am pasting from is Katabiblon.

It is not consistant, but what seemes to be happening when I mix Hebrew and English is that if the Hebrew inside the English which goes for more than one line then it looks like this

E1 E2 E3 H4 H3 H2 H1
H6 H5 E4 E5 E6.
or this
E1 H5 H4 H3 H2 H1
E2 E3 E4 E5 E6.

I the above, I understand that your second example is the desired result. Both of your examples happen to me in W7 with Word 2010. If there is no line wrap within the Hebrew it's fine. If I change the paragraph formatting to R->L, then the Hebrew wraps ok, but the English does not. As far as I know, that's a limitation of Word. A paragraph can either be L->R or R->L, but it doesn't support the Hebrew parts of a paragraph being R->L, and the English L->R.

XP does not display vowels as well as W7. Also in XP, you need to enable R->L language processing in the control panel, which it seems like you've done.

[SteveMiller]

(7)I need a hint to get a hold of this word כְּבוֹד֑וֹ . What is its root and cognates?

It's root is the verb כַּבֵּ֤ד meaning to honor or make heavy.

When the vav is introduced, is that a derivational morpheme giving כִּבּוּד which functions as a verb and noun, or just as a noun?

I see that the triliteral root of נִפְלְאוֹתָֽיו is פלא and I'm wondering whether the Nun on the front of נִפְלְאוֹתָֽיו like the مَكْتُوب "written" nominal form of the verb in Arabic - "his things that have been wondered at"?

כִּבּוּד is an infinitive noun.

For נִפְלְאוֹתָֽיו :
The nun makes it Niphal = passive
It is a niphal participal, which acts as a noun
the וֹתָֽ makes the participal feminine plural
the yod vav at the end is the 3ms pronoun suffix, hence "his wonders"

I think your rendering is right except that it is present, "his things that are wondered at".