where then is...? However, אֵפוֹא may also be placed at the end of the entire question (Ex 33, Is 22; also Ho 13, since either אֱהִי is a dialectical form of אַיֵּה, or אַיֵּה should be read instead of it) or at the beginning of the question proper, after a strongly emphasized word, as in Gn 27.[1]
[m] (e) Sometimes one interrogative governs two co-ordinate clauses, the first of which should rather be subordinated to the second, so that the interrogative word strictly speaking affects only the second; thus Is 5 after מַדּוּעַ wherefore looked I... and it brought forth? i.e. wherefore brought it forth, while I looked, &c.; Is 50; after הֲ Nu 32, Jer 8, also Nu 16 (read הַאִישׁ); after הֲלֹא Jos 22; after לָ֫מָּה Is 58, 2 Ch 32; after אֶל־מִי Is 40.[2] But הֲ Jb 4 and הֲלֹא 4:21 are separated from the verb to which they belong by the insertion of a conditional clause.
[n] 3. The affirmative answer is generally expressed, as in Latin, by repeating the emphatic word in the question (or with the second person changed to the first, Gn 24, 27, 29, Ju 13), Gn 29, 37 f., 1 S 23, 26, 1 K 21, Jer 37. (On וָיֵשׁ if it be so in the corrected text of 2 K 10, see § 159 dd.) As a negative answer the simple לֹא is sometimes sufficient, as in Gn 19, 1 K 3, &c.; cf. § 152 c; and in Ju 4 the simple אָֽיִן equivalent to no or no one.
[a] A wish may be expressed not only by the simple imperfect (§ 107 n), cohortative (§ 108, especially with נָא § 108 c), jussive (§ 109; with נָא § 109 b), imperative (§ 110 a), perfect consecutive (§ 112 aa) or by a simple noun-clause (§ 116 r, note, and § 141 g) but also in the following ways:—
1. By exclamations in the form of interrogative clauses:[3] especially sentences with מִי followed by the imperfect as being the mood of that which is still unfulfilled but possible, and hence also of that which is desired, e.g. 2 S 15 מִֽי־יְשִׂמֵ֫נִי שֹׁפֵט who maketh me judge? i.e. O that I were made judge! 1 S 20, 2 S 23. On the other hand, מִי with the perfect (Gn 21, Nu 23, 1 S 26, Is 53, &c.) or participle (ψ 59, Pr 24, &c.), rather expresses a rhetorical question, i.e. a denial, cf. § 150 d. Especially frequent is the use of מִֽי־יִתֵּן (prop. who gives?) to introduce all kinds of desiderative clauses (see under b).—In Mal 1 the desiderative clause proper is co-ordinated with an interrogative clause,
- ↑ On the other hand, in Jb 9 and 24:25 אֵפוֹ is not prefixed to the מִי, but appended to the conditional sentence.
- ↑ Cf. the analogous sentences after יַ֫עַן because, Is 65, Jer 35; after causal אֲשֶׁר 1 S 26; after כִּי Is 12; likewise after גַּם § 153 at the end; after פֶּן־ Dt 8–14, 25:3, Jos 6, 2 S 12.
- ↑ The transition from a question to a wish may be seen, e.g. in Nu 11 who shall give us flesh to eat? i.e. O that we had flesh to eat!
