Command Line Phrase Search Syntax

[ISalzman]

I'm trying to do a phrase search on the Command Line in BW. There are going to be intervening words. The construction found in Gen 19:24 is highly unusual. The verse reads:


וַֽיהוָ֗ה הִמְטִ֧יר עַל־סְדֹ֛ם וְעַל־עֲמֹרָ֖ה גָּפְרִ֣ית וָאֵ֑שׁ מֵאֵ֥ת יְהוָ֖ה מִן־הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃

The intriguing thing here, of course, is that Yahweh does something/takes action from Yahweh (Himself) in heaven (or the sky). The verse begins with a Vav X Qatal, has several intervening words, and then ends with the phrase indicating the origin of Yahweh's action to be from Yahweh in heaven. In doing a phrase search of this nature (i.e., where you want to allow for some intervening words), is it true that the normal phrase symbol ['] should be replaced with ; (i.e., a semi-colon)? Second, what syntax does one use to allow for the presence of intervening words? (In our verse, there are six intervening words.) What would be very helpful is if someone could suggest the full search string that meets and includes the following criteria:

1. Yahweh + verb (In our case, we have a less common form: a vav-x-qatal. That is, Yahweh precedes the verb and the verb is a qatal form. In this search, I would like to be able to account for instances such as these, as well as instances of the more common Vayyiqtol Yahweh construction.)

2. The search would allow for the presence of intervening words (at least 6 or 7).

3. A "from Yahweh" construction.

Very grateful for any suggestions and feedback.

Irving

[Mark Eddy]

You do not have to replace ' with ;.
I found what you are looking for with the following string search in WTM: 'hwhy@* *3 !m@* *8 *@v* hwhy
I needed the extra words after MiN and before the second YHWH, because in your example the sign of the direct object is treated as a separate lemma, and if YHWH should have the definite article, that would add another lemma in between.
I get only 5 verses, and a couple of them (at least) are not what you want. But the above search should find all the verses you are seeking, unless you want to allow for the verb not to follow the subject YHWH directly. If you want to allow the the verb to preceed YHWH or to have a phrase before it (e.g. YHWH TseBAoTH, etc.) you would have to make a more complex search.
I hope this helps.
Mark Eddy

[ISalzman]

Mark, thanks a lot! I replicated your search using your search string and got the same 5 hits. There really is no other construction like Gen 19:24 in the entire Hebrew Bible (which is very interesting, by the way!). I will also try doing the search with a Vayyiqtol Yahweh at the beginning of the string. Just out of curiosity, why do you have "yhwh@*" at the end of the string? Wouldn't "Yhwh" alone have been sufficient? Again, thanks so much for the help.

Irving

[Mark Eddy]

Just out of curiosity, why do you have "yhwh@*" at the end of the string? Wouldn't "Yhwh" alone have been sufficient? \
Yes, @* is unnecessary. It was there because I began the search by clicking on the word YHWH and doing a lemma search. Then I had to choose that search from the drop-down list to the right of the command line. That placed yhwh@* back on the command line. I just added to that, instead of first deleting @*.
Mark Eddy

[ISalzman]

Gotcha. Thanks.

[bkMitchell]

Irving,

You may also be interested in:

(1)Zechariah 2:12-13 (WTT differes from English versification) which may be divided into two stanzas. The first stanza(2:12) is a pentastich containing two X-Qatal sentence atoms and three clause atoms. The second stanza (2:13) which contains a sentence atom, two We-Qatal clause atoms, and ends with a x-Qatal. This appears to be close to the type of concept you were/are searching for.

(2) Hosea 1:7

(3) Psalm 45:8 (WTT differs from English versification)

[ISalzman]

Nice. Thanks, Brian. I love Psa 45:8. Of course, contra Rashi and many of the modern Christian exegetes who have bought into Rashi and been influenced by him and his anti-messianic peshat, I believe it is talking about the Messiah, the Lord Yeshua/Jesus.

Irving