BibleWiki

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר דָּ֠וִד לְכָל עֲבָדָ֨יו אֲשֶׁר אִתּ֤וֹ בִירוּשָׁלִַ֨ם֙ ק֣וּמוּ וְנִבְרָ֔חָה כִּ֛י לֹא תִֽהְיֶהplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigהָיָה

hebrew

The word הָיָה means “to exist” or “to be” or “to become” or “to come into being” and occurs 3561 times in the Old Testament.

This is the foundational verb of existence, identity, becoming and occurrence.

* It is used in the creation narrative of Genesis 1, represented by the English words Genesis 1:3Exodus 3:12Ruth 1:1Isaiah 2:2 לָּ֥נוּ פְלֵיטָ֖ה מִפְּנֵ֣יplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigפָנִים

hebrew

Meaning:

* Face * Presence * Front or surface

Noun. Masculine. Although it looks plural in form (ending in -ים), it is almost always used as a singular in meaning - a type of plural of intensity or plural of form common in Hebrew for body parts that come in pairs or have multiple aspects. אַבְשָׁל֑וֹם מַהֲר֣וּ לָלֶ֗כֶת פֶּן יְמַהֵ֤ר וְהִשִּׂגָ֨נוּ֙ וְהִדִּ֤יחַ עָלֵ֨ינוּ֙ אֶתplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigאֵת

hebrew

The Hebrew אֵת word does not have a corresponding word in English. In Hebrew, it is a marker of the accusative, i.e. the word following it is the object of the sentence. It only ever occurs in conjunction with nouns associated with the definite article הַ.Genesis 1:1 הָ֣רָעָ֔ה וְהִכָּ֥ה הָעִ֖יר לְפִי חָֽרֶב