Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar/148. Exclamations
II. Special Kinds of Sentences.
a The originally interrogative מָה is used to introduce exclamations of wonder or indignation = O how! or ridicule, why! how! sometimes strengthened by זֶה or זֹאת according to § 136 c.—Astonishment or indignation at something which has happened is introduced by אֵיךְ how (likewise originally interrogative) with the perfect; the indignant refusal of a demand by אֵיךְ (but also by מָה Jb 31) with the imperfect; an exclamation of lamentation by אֵיכָה, less frequently אֵיךְ how!; in Jo 1 by מָה.
Examples:—
b מָה (or מַה־ with a following Dagĕš, see § 37) expressing admiration (or astonishment) before verbal-clauses, e.g. Gn 27 (מַה־זֶּה); 38:29, Nu 24 (how goodly are...!); ψ 21, Ct 7; before the predicate of noun-clauses, e.g. Gn 28, ψ 8; mockingly before the verb, 2 S 6 (how glorious was...!); Jer 22, Jb 26 f.; indignantly, Gn 3 מַה־וֹּאת; 4:10, 20:9, 31:26 what hast thou done!
אֵיךְ with the perfect, e.g. Gn 26, ψ 73; in scornful exclamation, Is 14, 12; in a lament (usually אֵיכָה), 2 S 1, 27; with the imperfect, in a reproachful question, Gn 39, 44, ψ 11, 137; in a mocking imitation of lament, Mi 2.
אֵיכָה with the perfect, Is 1, La 1; with the imperfect, La 2, 4.
c Rem. 1. The close relation between a question and an exclamation appears also in the interrogative personal pronoun מִי in such cases as Mi 7 מִי־אֵל כָּמ֫וֹךָ who is a God like unto thee? and so in general in rhetorical questions as the expression of a forcible denial; similarly in the use of an interrogative sentence to express a wish, see § 150 d, 151 a.
d 2. A weaker form of exclamation is sometimes produced by the insertion of a corroborative כִּי verily, surely, before the predicate, Gn 18; cf. 33:11, Is 7, and the analogous cases in the apodoses of conditional sentences, § 159 ee.