Bit at a Time Biblical Hebrew -- Genesis 2:10

Genesis 2:10

 

י וְנָהָר יֹצֵא מֵעֵדֶן לְהַשְׁקוֹת אֶת־הַגָּן וּמִשָּׁם יִפָּרֵד וְהָיָה לְאַרְבָּעָה רָאשִׁים:

 

Transliteration: V’-nahar yotse me-eden l’hashqot et ha-gan umi-sham yipared v’-hayah l-arbaah rashim.

Translation:    A river went out from Eden to water the garden and from there it separated and became for four heads.

Vocabulary in this lesson:

נָהָר	river
יֹצֵא	Goes out
לְהַשְׁקוֹת	To water
שָּׁם	There (location, not “there is”)
יִפָּרֵד	separated
אַרְבָּעָה	Four (masculine)
רָאשִׁים	heads

 

“Go out”, yts’, is a very frequent verb and has two “weak” letters so here is the conjugation.

 

Present

Singular	Plural	Gender
יוֹצֵא	יוֹצְאִים	Masculine
יוֹצֵאת	יוֹצְאוֹת	Feminine

 

Past

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
יָצָאתִי	יָצָאנוּ	First
יָצָאתָ	יְצָאתֶם	Second/masculine
יָצָאת	יְצאתֶן	Second/feminine
יָצָא	יָצְאוּ	Third/masculine
יָצְאָה	יָצְאוּ	Third/feminine

 

Future/aorist

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
אֵצאֵ	נֵצֵא	First
תֵּצֵא	תֵּצְאוּ	Second/masculine
תֵּצָאִי	תֵּצֶאנָה	Second/feminine
יֵצֵא	יֵצְאוּ	Third/masculine
תֵּצֵא	תֵּצֶאנָה	Third/feminine

 

There’s a variant form of the feminine 2/3^rd person plural, tsenah, which is part of a song from the early days of the State of Israel:

Tzena, tzena, tzena, tzena ha-banot u-r’ena ħayalim ba-mosheva

Al na, Al na, Al na, Al na, al na titħabena Mi ben ħayil, ish tzava

 

Go out, go out, go out girls and see soldiers in the moshava (farming community).

Do not, do not, do not hide yourself away from a virtuous man [a pun on the word for "soldier"], an army man.

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