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וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ אִ֖ישׁ מִבֵּ֣ית לֵוִ֑י וַיִּקַּ֖ח אֶת־בַּת־לֵוִֽי׃ 2 וַתַּ֥הַר הָאִשָּׁ֖ה וַתֵּ֣לֶד בֵּ֑ן וַתֵּ֤רֶא אֹתוֹ֙ כִּי־ט֣וֹב ה֔וּא וַֽתִּצְפְּנֵ֖הוּ שְׁלֹשָׁ֥ה יְרָחִֽים׃ 3 וְלֹא־יָכְלָ֣ה עוֹד֮ הַצְּפִינוֹ֒ וַתִּֽקַּֽח־לוֹ֙ תֵּ֣בַת גֹּ֔מֶא וַתַּחְמְרָ֥ה בַחֵמָ֖ר וּבַזָּ֑פֶת וַתָּ֤שֶׂם בָּהּ֙ אֶת־הַיֶּ֔לֶד וַתָּ֥שֶׂם בַּסּ֖וּף עַל־שְׂפַ֥ת הַיְאֹֽר׃ 4 וַתֵּתַצַּ֥ב אֲחֹת֖וֹ מֵרָחֹ֑ק לְדֵעָ֕ה מַה־יֵּעָשֶׂ֖ה לֽוֹ׃

Vocabulary

Verse 1

לוי  name: “Levi”

בת  “daughter” (not to be confused with בית “house”)

Verse 2

הרה  verb: “conceive” (BDB, 247)

צפן  verb (3ms pronominal suffix): “hide” (BDB, 860)

ירח  noun: “month” (BDB, 437)

Syntax & Miscellaneous

• Notice the morphological difference/similarity between the construct form of “house” and “daughter” noted above.
• The second clause of verse two, וַתֵּ֤רֶא אֹתֹו֙ כִּי־טֹ֣וב ה֔וּא, exhibits several interesting syntactic phenomena.  The conjunctive וַ indicates temporality “and when,” the relative clause is marked by  כִּי“that,” and the conjunction in the following clause would be the resultant temporal marker, “then.”  Also, the verbless clause follows the normal typology S-P (subject-predicate).

Vocabulary

Verse 3

צפן  verb (Hiphil): “hide” (cf. verse 2)

תבה  noun (construct): “ark” (BDB, 1061)

גמא  noun: “reed, papyrus” (BDB, 167)

חמר  verb: “smear, cover” (BDB, 330)

חמר  noun: “bitumen” (BDB, 330)

זפת  “pitch” (BDB, 278)

סוף  “reed” (BDB, 693)

שׂפת  “side, bank”

Verse 4

יצב  verb (Hithpael): “station oneself” (BDB, 426)

רחק  “far away, distant, far”

Syntax & Misc.

Verse 3

• As with the conjunctives in verse 2, the first two clause connectors should be understood sequentially: “and when…then.”

Verse 4

• The differentiation (i.e. determination) of clause boundaries is difficult for students.  Consider this clause: וַתַּחְמְרָ֥ה בַחֵמָ֖ר וּבַזָּ֑פֶת.  How does one decide which waw is a clause connector and which is a word/phrase connector?  In this case there are several “markers.”  The first waw, attached to the verb, connects two clauses together; whereas, the second connects two noun phrases together.  The beth preposition repeated on the second noun denotes a compound object (in English: “with this and with that” or “with this and that”).  Additionally, the diacritical mark, athnach, shows that this word is the end of the phrase; thus the waw is a noun connector and not the beginning of a new phrase.
• The verb, יֵּעָשֶׂ֖ה “will happen,” should be understood as a modal (possibly “subjective” mood: “what might happen”).  The Hebrew modal system (i.e. verbal mood) is even more disputed than the tense/aspect relationship.
• How might לְדֵעָ֕ה be parsed?

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