Should it be said, the words in their declination, or rather the affixed and suffixed particles, differ, and are marked with different vowel points, we answer by quoting Lee’s Heb. Lex. p. 205: “This variety in the vowels may be ascribed either to the punctuatists or the copyists, and is of no moment. But as the word חָםḥām ham was thus applied in Hebrew to the original idea of active caloric, as emanating from the sun, so it will agree with its homophone in Arabic and Syriac; for let it be noticed, that the Arabic word حَمٌّham ham or haman, means to be hot, as of the sun. So the Syriac [ܗܡܳܐ] hama means œstus, calor, &c. But in Deut. xxxii. 24, 33, it is translated poison; thus, poison of serpents, and ‘the poison of dragons,’ from the notion that great heat, rage, anger, &c. are cognate with poison.”
This word occurs in Zeph. ii. 12. The received version is, “Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword.” The original is, גַּם־אַתֶּ֣ם כּוּשִׁ֔ים חַלְלֵ֥י חַרְבִּ֖י הֵֽמָּהgam-ʾattem kûšîm ḥallê ḥarbî hēmmâ, and has been subject to much investigation. Gesenius considers the word הֵֽמָהhēmâ a pronoun in the second person, and Lee seems to side with him, but says, “the truth is, the place is inverted and abrupt, and should read thus: גַּם־אַתֶּ֣ם חַלְלֵ֥י חַרְבִּ֖י כּוּשִׁ֔ים הֵֽמָּהgam-ʾattem ḥallê ḥarbî kûšîm hēmmâ,” and which he translates thus—“Even ye (are) (the) wounded of my sword,—they are Cushites.” We do not perceive how he has made the passage more plain. Let us, for a moment, examine how the Hebrews used this form חֵמָהḥēmâ or חֵםḥēm, that we may the better comprehend its sense in the present instance. Jer. v. 22: “Though they roar,” וְהָמ֥וּwĕhāmû ve hamu, rage, &c., “yet can they not pass over it!” vi. 23: “Their voice roareth like the sea,” יֶֽהֱמֶהyehĕme rageth, &c. xxxi. 35; “Which divideth the sea, when the waves thereof roar,” וַיֶֽהֱמ֖וּwayehĕmû say ye, hemen, rage, &c. li. 15: “When her waves do roar (וְהָמ֤וּwĕhāmû ve hamu se, rage, &c.) like great waters.” Isa. li. 13: “But I am the Lord thy God that divided the sea, whose waves roared,” raged. li. 13: “Because of the fury (חֲמַ֣תḥămat rage, &c.) of the oppressor,” “and where is the fury (חֲמַ֥תḥămat hamath, rage, &c.) of the oppressor?” li. 15: “whose waves roared,” וַיֶֽהֱמ֖וּwayehĕmû raged, &c. Ps. xlvi. 4 (the 3d of the English text): “Though the waters thereof roar (יֶֽהֱמ֣וּyehĕmû rage, &c.) and be troubled,” יֶחְמְ֣רוּyeḥmĕrû great agitation, rage, &c.
But let us take a more particular view of this word, as used in the passage from Zephaniah. The Septuagint has translated this passage in Καὶ ὑμεῖς Αἰθίοπες τραυματίαι ῥομφαίας μοῦ ἐστέ, which is very much like our received version.
But it should be noticed that it has translated the Hebrew word חַלְלִ֥יḥallî into τραυματίαι; τραῦμα would imply the injury, wounds, carnage, or slaughter of a whole nation, army, or body of people; but τραυματίαι implies individuality, and reaches no farther than the person or persons named. The prophet had been uttering denunciations against many nations, but in this passage emphatically selects the Ethiopians as individuals; and the Greek translator evidently discovered there was in this denunciation something peculiarly personal as applied to the Ethiopians.
The Hebrew conveys the idea of reducing, subjecting, or bringing low, as by force, to cause to sink in character as in Ps. lxxxix. 40 (39th of the English text): “Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: thou hast חִלַּֽלְתָּḥillaltā wounded, subjected, or reduced his crown to the earth.” Ezek. xxii. 26: “Her priests have violated my law, and have חַלְּל֣וּḥallĕlû (wounded, subjected, lowered the character of) my holy things.”
But the word חַלְּלֵיḥallĕlê is here used in the construct state, showing that the idea imposed by this word was brought about by the following term, חַדְבִי֖ḥadbiy, which the Septuagint translates rhomphaias, which properly means the Thracian spear; but חַרְבּיḥarby means any weapon, a goad harpoon as well as a sword. The fact is, neither of these words were the usual Hebrew or Greek term to mean a sword. The Greeks would have called a sword μάχαιρα, and the Hebrews חֲנִיתḥănît or דֹחַמdōḥam or כִּדוֹןkidôn, or perhaps שׂכהśkh; and Dr. Lee has given Ἅρπη as the Greek translation of חַרְבִ֖יḥarbî, which means a sickle, a goad for driving elephants, &c. It was a thing to inflict wounds by which to enforce subjection, and the idea is that the Ethiopians are covered by wounds by their being reduced by it, or that they shall be. When Jeremiah announced captivity and slavery to the Egyptians and the adjacent tribes, he used this word as the instrument of its execution. Thus Jer. xlvi. 14: “Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph, and in Taphanhes; say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee, for the sword חֶ֖רֶבḥereb shall devour round about thee.” 16: “Arise and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword,” חֶ֖רֶבḥereb. Many such instances might be cited, showing the fact that, in poetic strain, this was the instrument usually named, as in the hand of him subjecting others to bondage; and much in the same manner, even at this day, we use the term “whip,” in the hand of the master, in reference to the enforcement of his authority over his slave.
In a further view of the word חֵמָּהḥēmmâ, as used in this passage, we deem it proper to state that Gibbs considers it a pronoun of the third person plural, masculine, they, and adds, “sometimes” (probably an incorrectness drawn from the language of common life) “used in reference to women,” and quotes Zech. v. 10; Cant. vi. 8; Ruth i. 22. And he further adds, “It is used for the substantive verb in the third person plural, 1 Kings viii. 40, ix. 20; Gen. xxv. 16; also for the substantive verb in the second person, Zeph. ii. 12: ‘Also, ye Cushites חַלְלֵ֥י חַרְבִּ֖י הֵֽמָּהḥallê ḥarbî hēmmâ shall be slain by my sword.’” Gibbs’s Lex. p. 175. In Stuart’s Grammar, p. 193, he says, “Personal pronouns of the third person sometimes stand simply in the place of the verb of existence;” e. g. he cites Gen. ix. 3, Zech. i. 9, and says, “Plainer still is the principle in such cases, as follows: Zeph. ii. 12, ‘Ye Cushites, victims of my sword אַתֶּ֣ם הֵֽמָּהʾattem hēmmâ are ye.’”
The fact is, the verb of existence, called the verb “to be,” and the verb substantive, in Hebrew, as in all other languages, is often not expressed, but understood. This circumstance is well explained in Gessenius’ Hebrew Grammar, revised by Rodiger, and translated by Conant, p. 225, thus, “When a personal pronoun is the subject of a sentence, like a noun in the same position, it does not require for its union with the predicate a distinct word for the copula, when this consists simply in the verb ‘to be,’ אָֽנֹכִ֣י הָֽרֹאֶ֔הʾānōkî hārōʾe ‘I (am) the seer,’ 1 Sam. ix. 19.” And again: “The pronoun of the third person frequently serves to convert the subject and predicate, and is then a sort of substitute for the copula of the verb to be, e. g. Gen. xli. 26: ‘The seven good cows, שֶׁ֤בַע שָׁנִים֙ הֵ֔נָּהšebaʿ šānîm hēnnâ seven years (are) they.’” To say in English, “The seven good cows, seven years they,” would be thought too elliptical; but we do not perceive how the expression converts “they” into the verb “to be.”
But again, the same author says, p. 261: “The union of the substantive or pronoun, which forms the subject of the sentence, with another substantive or adjective, as its predicate, is most commonly expressed by simply writing them together without any copula. 1 Kings xxiii. 21: יְהוָ֤ה הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙yhwh hāʾĕlōhîm ‘Jehovah (is) the true God.’” The idiom of the language then does not necessarily convert הֵמָּהhēmmâ in the passage before us into the verb “to be.” And here let us repeat the sentence, גַּם־אַתֶּ֣ם כּוּשִׁ֔ים חַֽלְלֵ֥י חַרְבִּ֖י הֵֽמָּהgam-ʾattem kûšîm ḥallê ḥarbî hēmmâ Zeph. ii. 12. It will be perceived that גַּם־אַתֶּ֣םgam-ʾattem are connected by Makkaph. Hebrew scholars do not agree as to how far this character is effective as an accent. But the rules for its use are—“Makkaph is inserted in the following cases: 1. Particles, which, from their nature, can never have any distinctive accent, are mostly connected with other words by the mark Makkaph: גַּם־לְאִישַׁהּgam-lĕʾîšah even to her husband; בְּתָם־לְבָבִ֛יbĕtom-lĕbābî in the integrity of my heart. Gen. xx. 5, &c. 2. When words are to be construed together, &c., as זַרְעוֹ־ב֖וֹzarʿô-bô its seed (is) within itself. Gen. i. 11,” &c.—Lee’s Lectures, p. 61.
But Stuart, seeing no way to translate the sentence without making הִ֖מָּהhimmâ the verb “to be,” 3d person plural, “are,” takes אַתֶּ֣םʾattem the personal pronoun, 2d person plural, equivalent to ye or you, away from גַּםgam, to which it is attached by Makkaph, and carries it down to precede הֵמָּהhēmmâ in the sentence, and thus reads “are ye,” while he supplies another אַתֶּם֣ʾattem as understood to precede כּוּשִיםkûšîm, and reads, “ye Cushites, victims of my sword are ye.” We consider this as quite as objectionable as Dr. Lee’s—“Even ye (are) (the) wounded of my sword,—they are Cushites.”