21st Century Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 1:24-25, prepositions with suffixes

Genesis 1:24-25

כד וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים תּוֹצֵ֨א הָאָ֜רֶץ נֶ֤פֶשׁ חַיָּה֙ לְמִינָ֔הּ בְּהֵמָ֥ה וָרֶ֛מֶשׂ וְחַֽיְתוֹ־אֶ֖רֶץ לְמִינָ֑הּ וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן:

כה וַיַּ֣עַשׂ אֱלֹהִים֩ אֶת־חַיַּ֨ת הָאָ֜רֶץ לְמִינָ֗הּ וְאֶת־הַבְּהֵמָה֙ לְמִינָ֔הּ וְאֵ֛ת כָּל־רֶ֥מֶשׂ הָֽאֲדָמָ֖ה לְמִינֵ֑הוּ וַיַּ֥רְא אֱלֹהִ֖ים כִּי־טֽוֹב:

Translation:     Gd said let the earth bring out living soul of its kind, domestic animal and creeper and wild animals of the earth of its kind; it must have been so.

            Gd must have made the wild animal for its kind, the domestic animal for its kind, all the creepers of the earth for its kind; Gd must have manifested goodness.

Vocabulary in this lesson:

בְּהֵמָה	Domestic animal
רֶמֶשׂ	Creeper
חַיְתוֹ־אֶרֶץ	wild animal
אֲדָמָה	Ground, earth, soil

There are four one-letter prepositions in BH:

l’ meaning “to”, “for”, “for  the purpose of”, and possession.

b’ meaning “in”, “at the time of”, “by means of”, and “against”.

k' meaning “in the same way as,”, “as soon as”, “according to”.

me (mi or min) meaning “from”, “due to”, “beyond”, and “than”. 

L’ and b’ combine with object suffixes as follows.  The other two prepositions can’t do this and I’ll go into them either when we have a verse with no other important grammar point, or when we have a verse that uses one.

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
לִי	לָנוּ	First
לְךָ	לָכֶם	Second/masculine
לָךְ	לָכֶן	Second/feminine
לוֹ	לָהֶם	Third/masculine
לָהּ	לָהֶן	Third/feminine

Look at the second person singular feminine form.  There is a shva for the last consonant and instead of being underneath, it’s on the left.  The kaph sofit form goes below the line of the writing, so the vowel goes to the left.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2020 All Rights Reserved