21st Century Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 15-16, hifil binyan

Genesis 1:15-16

טו וְהָיוּ לִמְאוֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם לְהָאִיר עַל־הָאָרֶץ וַיְהִי־כֵן:

טז וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים אֶת־שְׁנֵי הַמְּאֹרֹת הַגְּדֹלִים אֶת־הַמָּאוֹר הַגָּדֹל לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַיּוֹם וְאֶת־הַמָּאוֹר הַקָּטֹן לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַלַּיְלָה וְאֵת הַכּוֹכָבִים:

Translation:    

            From then on they will be for lights in the raqia of the heaven to shed light on the earth; it  must have been so.

           Gd must have made the two great lights, the great light for the purpose of governing the day and the small light for the purpose of governing the night, and the stars.

In verse 16 we have the hifil of mashal, “rule, govern, have control”.

The first is the gerundive for prepositions and the second is the one that cannot take prepositions.

הַמְשִׁיל

הַמְשֵׁל                                                                                              

This is the imperfect aspect.

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
אַמְשִׁיל	נַמְשִׁיל	First
תַּמְשִׁיל	תַּמְשִׁילוּ	Second/masculine
תַּמְשִׁילִי	תַּמְשֵׁלְנָה	Second/feminine
יַמְשִׁיל	יַמְשִׁילוּ	Third/masculine
תַּמְשִׁיל	תַּמְשִׁילוּ	Third/feminine

This is the perfect aspect.

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
הִמְשַׁלְתִּי	הִמְשַׁלְנוּ	First
הִמְשַׁלְתָּ	הִמְשַׁלְתֶּם	Second/masculine
הִמְשַׁלְתְּ	הִמְשַׁלתֶּן	Second/feminine
הִמְְשִׁיל	הִמְשִׁילוּ	Third/masculine
הִמְשִׁילה	הִמְשִׁילוּ	Third/feminine

This is progressive aspect.

Singular	Plural	Person/gender
מַמְשִׁיל	מַמְשִׁילִים	First
מַמְשִׁילָה	מַמְשִׁלוֹת	Second/masculine

Mashal is what is called a “strong verb”  and the hifil is perfectly regular. Memorize the structure. You’ll need it to be able to tell hifil apart from piel.  Oops, spoiler.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved