Lesson 1 – Genesis 1:1 #,r’a’h tea.w ~Iy;m’V;h tea ~yih{l/a a’r’B tyivaer.B tyXarb The b is a prefix meaning "inside" or "in." This letter is an abbreviated form of the Hebrew word tyb (beyt) meaning, "house." Inside the house is where the family resides. (For a list of the common prefixes see the chart labeled "Prefixes" in Part 3) The root word is Xar (rosh) meaning, "head." Adding certain letters to the root commonly forms words related in meaning to the root and all of the words derived from the same root will be related in meaning. In this case, the letters ty are added to the root to form a noun, tyXar. This word means "beginning," the head of a time or space as in the beginning of an event or a river. (For a list of common letters used to form new nouns, see the chart labeled "Noun Derivatives" in Part 3) By being able to recognize the letters added to a root to form noun derivatives, one can easily find the root within the word. There are approximately 8,000 different words in the Hebrew Bible, all of which are derived from only about 1,500 roots. Of these 1,500, about half are rarely used in the Bible. This means that with a good understanding of about 750 roots one can easily read the Biblical text without memorizing all 8,000 words used within it. arb This is a verb usually translated as "create."
Each verb identifies person (first, second or third), gender (masculine or feminine), number (singular or plural) and tense (perfect or imperfect). This verb would be literally translated as "he created." The construction of the verb identifies the subject of the verb as third person, masculine, singular and perfect tense. (For the various prefixes and suffixes added to the verb to identify person, gender, number and tense, see the verb charts in Part 3) Perfect tense is completed action and is similar to our past tense. Imperfect tense is incomplete action and is similar to our present or future tense. Notice the difference of tenses between Hebrew and English. English tenses are related to time (past, present or future) while Hebrew is related to action (complete or incomplete).
~yhla This word is the subject of the verb, the "he" in "he created." Generally the subject of the verb will follow the verb rather than precede it as in English. In English we say "God created" but in Hebrew this would be written as "created God." The root word for this noun is hla meaning "power." This word is used for anyone or anything which, has "power" and is often translated as "God." The suffix ~y denotes a plural for masculine nouns. While English plurals convey quantity (more than one), Hebrew plurals convey quantity or quality (very large or great). The word ~yhla can be translated as "gods" (quantity) or "a great god" (quality). The idea of "a great god" is generally written in English as "God."
Only through context can it be determined if the plural noun is identifying quantity or quality. This can be the context within the passage or the sentence structure itself. In this verse the context of the sentence structure requires this word to be understood as qualitative since the verb preceding it states "he (singular) created" and not "they (plural) created." ta This word ta is used over 11,000 times (and never translated into English as there is no equivalent) to point to the direct object of the verb. Some examples of a direct object are "Bible," "the book" and "his book" where the "book" is specifically identified." Conversely, an example of an indirect object would be "a book" where the book is not specifically identified.
~ymXh The first letter, h, is another prefix and is usually translated as "the" (definite article). This prefix is the short form of the word lh meaning, "to look at something." The root word is ~ymX meaning, "sky" or "heaven." Several Hebrew words are always written in the plural form such as this word.
Because the h (the) precedes the word ~ymX, this word is a direct object of the verb arb, hence, the reason for the word ta before it. taw
Another very common prefix is the letter w, usually translated as "and." This is the abbreviated form of the word ww meaning, peg or nail. As a nail attaches two items together, this prefix attaches two or more things together in a sentence, in this case "the skies and the land."
Added to this prefix is the word ta which was previously discussed. Because of this word we know that the word which follows is also a direct object of the verb arb.
#rah The letter h is the prefix meaning "the." The word #ra is a common word meaning, "land" or "earth."
