§ 161. Comparative Clauses.

a

1. A comparison between two facts is sometimes established by simply uniting them with waÒwcopulative, especially in gnomic poetry, when facts of a moral nature are compared with those of the physical world, e. g. Jb 5:7 man is born unto trouble, and the sons of flame fly upward, i. e, as the sparks by nature fly upward, so man, &c.; Jb 12:11 (in an interrogative form; in 34:3 the same comparison as a statement); 14:11 f., Pr 17:3, 25:3, 26:3, 9, 14, 27:21, &c.1 Even without the connecting w> Jb 24:19 drought and heat consume the snow waters, Waj'ñ%' lAav. so doth Sheol those who have sinned(cf. § 155 n); cf. Jer 17:11.

b

2.The conjunction rv,a]K†; (cf. § 155 g; the simple rv,a] occurs in the same sense in Ex 10:6, 14:13, 34:18) as, quemadmodum, is used as a comparative conjunction (Ob 15), frequently with !Ke so, corresponding to it in the apodosis, Is 31:4, 52:14 f. Sometimes, however, !Ke (so also) occurs even after independent statements, Is 55:9, Jer 3:20.— Exact coincidence of two facts is expressed in Ec 5:15 by ·v, tM;[u-lK'2 in allpoints as.

c

Rem. On the use of K. as, with single nouns or pronouns to introduce comparisons, cf. 118 s; on the alleged use of K. as a conjunction (equivalent to rv,a]K†;), cf. § 155 g. — It is to be further remarked that K.—K. when used in correspondence with one another, as — so(e. g. Lv 7:7, Ju 8:18, Is 24:2, Ho 4:9; also so — as, Gn 18:25, 44:18, Dt 1:17, 1 K 22:4; in Jos 14:11, 1 S 30:24 k.W—K. y Ps 127:4and often, !Ke—K., cf. Jo 2:4), are not to be regarded as conjunctions, but as virtual substantives with a following genitive; hy<h.y)i rGEK; ~k,K' Nu 15:15 properly means the like of you shall be the like of the stranger, i.e. your duty shall be(also) the stranger's duty; cf. Lv 24:22.

Footnotes:

1[1] On this waÒwadaequationis, and in general on these proverbial comparisons, see Delitzsch, Das Salomonische Spruchbuch, p. 9 f. MoreovÌer, instead of entire clauses, the nouns alone (without predicates) are frequently grouped together, e. g. Pr 25:12, 25, 26:21, 27:21 (called by Delitzsch, the emblematic Mashal '). The expressions ~[i bv;x.n< prop. to be counted with some one, y Ps 88:5, and ~[i lv;m.nI to be likened with some one, y Ps 28:1, 143:7, also arise from the idea of comparison implied in grouping things together. On this use of ~[i cf.Jb 9:26, where withis equivalent to like.

2[2] In spite of its form this particle has originally nothing to do with lKoà-lK' all. The expression is compounded of K. and tM;[ul., like the Aramaic lbeq\-lK' for lbeq\l†'K.; cf. M. Lambert, REJ. xxx. 47.