מָֽעֻזְנֶ֫יהָ Is 23, read מָֽעֻזֶּ֫יהָ (or מְעוֹנֶ֫יהָ); and for תָ֫מְנוּ La 3, read תַּ֫מּוּ. In Nu 23 קָבְנוֹ is not an instance of compensation (see § 67 o, end).
[a] The harder sound of the six Begadkephath letters, indicated by a Dageš lene, is to be regarded, according to the general analogy of languages, as their older and original pronunciation, from which the softer sound was weakened (§ 6 n and § 13). The original hard sound is maintained when the letter is initial, and after a consonant, but when it immediately follows a vowel or Šewā mobile it is softened and aspirated by their influence, e.g. פָּרַץ pāraṣ, יִפְרֹץ yiphrōṣ, כֹּל kōl, לְכֹל lekhōl. Hence the Begadkephath take Dageš lene
[b] (1) at the beginning of words: (a) without exception when the preceding word ends with a vowelless consonant, e.g. עַל־כֵּן ʾal-kēn (therefore), עֵץ פְּרִי ʿēṣ perî (fruit-tree); (b) at the beginning of a section, e.g. בְּרֵאשִׁית Gn 1, or at the beginning of a sentence, or even of a minor division of a sentence after a distinctive accent (§ 15 d), although the preceding word may end with a vowel. The distinctive accent in such a case prevents the vowel from influencing the following tenuis, e.g. וַיְהִ֕י כַּֽאֲשֶׁר and it was so, that when, Ju 11 (but וַֽיְהִי־כֵן Gn 1).
[c] Rem. 1. The vowel letters ה, י, ו, א, as such, naturally do not close a syllable. In close connexion they are therefore followed by the aspirated Begadkephath, e.g. וּמָ֣צָא בָהּ, &c. On the other hand, syllables are closed by the consonantal ו and י (except קַו־תֹ֫הוּ Is 34; שָׁלֵו֣בָֿהּ Ez 23; אֲדֹנָי בָֿם ψ 68), and by הּ with Mappîq; hence e.g. there is Dageš lene in עָלַי֣ פִּיהֶם and always after יְהֹוָה, since the Qerê perpetuum of this word (§ 17) assumes the reading אֲדֹנָי.
[d] 2. In a number of cases Dageš lene is inserted, although a vowel precedes in close connexion. This almost always occurs with the prefixes בְּ and כְּ in the combinations בְּב, כְּכ, בְּפ (i.e. when a Begadkephath with Šewâ precedes the same or a kindred aspirate) and בְּם (see Baer, L. Psalmorum, 1880, p. 92,[2]
on ψ 23); cf. e.g. 1 S 25, Is 10, ψ 34, Jb 19; כְג is uncertain; בְד, כְד, and בְכ according to David Qimḥi do not take Dageš, nor כְג, כב, and כְפ according to the Dikduke ha-ṭeeamim, p. 30. Sometimes the Begadkephath letters, even with a full vowel, take Dageš before aspirant (and even before ח in בַּֽחֲמִשָּׁה 1 K 12); cf. the instances mentioned above, § 20 e (mostly tenues before א). In all these cases the object is to prevent too great an accumulation of aspirates. The LXX, on the other hand, almost always represent the כ and
