[Mesorah] Kon'nah, Kon'nehu, Jussive

Akiva Miller akivagmiller at gmail.com
Sun Dec 17 09:27:26 PST 2017


I need help understanding the pasuk "Veehee Noam", particularly the
words Kon'nah and Kon'nehu.

My guess is that Kon'nehu is actually a compound word, made up of a
verb and an object. But I am not good at separating the two. It might
be Kon'nah with either Oto or Otam, but I really don't know.

Kon'nah might also be a compound, or it might be just a verb. My verb
lists show it in two places, but spelled exactly the same: as the Avar
(Perfect), in the 3nd person feminine, of either Piel or Pual. But if
so, what is the feminine subject of the pasuk? Noam is masculine.
Maaseh y'deinu is masculine (I think). Could it refer to an
unmentioned Shechina?

Also, the Avar surprises me. EVERY translation I've seen puts this
pasuk as a request for the future. I don't see any Vav Hahipuch. Is
the Avar/Perfect used poetically to refer to the future?

Someone suggested to me that both of these verbs might be in the
jussive form. My understanding of "Jussive" is that its not really a
verb form of its own, but that we use it to describe situations where
the Future Tense is actually a request or command, not as a statement
of future facts. This abounds when mitzvos are commanded; the pasuk
sometimes uses the Tzivuy form to command and order us, but sometimes
(to be gentle?) it uses the Atid/Future(Imperfect) and that's what we
call Jussive.

Am I close? Or is the Hebrew Jussive found in actual spelling
differences beyond the seven Binyanim that I was taught? Or maybe I'm
wrong about connecting Jussive to the future tense, and it can be done
with the past also?

My apologies for hoping that there's a simple answer to this. It
probably needs a really long answer, and one that's waaay over my
head. But whatever answers you can give will be be appreciated.

Akiva Miller



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