לְכוּ֙ (lə·ḵū) in Jonah 1:7: Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine plural
לְכוּ֙ (lə·ḵū) in Jonah 1:7
Source Word
At Jonah 1:7, the Jonah 1:7 source token לְכוּ֙ is H1980, V-Qal-Imp-mp. The H1980 Jonah 1:7 BSB+ word table row therefore anchors this guide.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
Come captures the idiomatic invitation to collective action better than a literal plural command to walk. The sailors urgently summon one another to act together as they seek the source of the calamity that threatens the ship.
How To Communicate It
Show how a verb meaning go or walk can become Come as a group summons when it stands before Let us cast lots.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not force a literal walking sense, and do not turn one narrative imperative into blanket approval of casting lots for decisions.
- The lexical motion sense remains in the background, but discourse context favors an exhortatory formula.
- Read Come within Jonah 1:7 as the H1980 occurrence; broader theology requires the passage.
What Does The Label Mean?
Hebrew-verb
Verb
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine plural
Qal
Imp
Not applicable
Masculine
Plural
Not applicable
None
Imperative mood calls for immediate participation rather than describing a completed or future journey.
Qal imperative addresses multiple men directly, while the common motion verb is used idiomatically to introduce a proposal.
What The Form Does In This Verse
The sailors as plural addressees invited to join the proposal Let us cast lots
The crew's attempt to discover responsibility for the storm after each sailor has cried to his own god
The masculine plural Qal imperative functions as a discourse summons that gathers the sailors for their shared next action.
The imperative does not command travel to a new location here, and its plural form does not validate divination as a universal method of guidance.
How Much The Form Matters Here
Moderate: The sailors urgently summon one another to act together as they seek the source of the calamity that threatens the ship.
Qal imperative addresses multiple men directly, while the common motion verb is used idiomatically to introduce a proposal.. The masculine plural Qal imperative functions as a discourse summons that gathers the sailors for their shared next action.. Attached to the sailors as plural addressees invited to join the proposal Let us cast lots. Governed by the crew's attempt to discover responsibility for the storm after each sailor has cried to his own god. The imperative does not command travel to a new location here, and its plural form does not validate divination as a universal method of guidance.
Why is a motion verb translated Come at the start of Jonah 1:7? The plural imperative works idiomatically as a summons for the sailors to join the proposal that immediately follows.
Direct: Come captures the idiomatic invitation to collective action better than a literal plural command to walk.
The lexical motion sense remains in the background, but discourse context favors an exhortatory formula. The verse reports the sailors' chosen procedure; narration of that procedure is not automatic prescription.
Imperative requires physical movement: Commands from motion verbs can function idiomatically to gather attention and participation. narrative command authorizes divination: The sailors address one another in a particular crisis; the form does not create a universal practice. morphology replaces literary context: The H1980 form clarifies the Come relation in Jonah 1:7; the surrounding passage establishes its scope.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
At Jonah 1:7, the Jonah 1:7 source token לְכוּ֙ is H1980, V-Qal-Imp-mp. The H1980 Jonah 1:7 BSB+ word table row therefore anchors this guide.
הָלַךְ is the lemma behind Come here. Within Jonah 1:7, H1980 retains this exact lexical identity.
Qal imperative addresses multiple men directly, while the common motion verb is used idiomatically to introduce a proposal.
The sailors urgently summon one another to act together as they seek the source of the calamity that threatens the ship.
The lot's narrative result exposes Jonah, but this opening summons remains the sailors' crisis response rather than a standing command for God's people.
Show how a verb meaning go or walk can become Come as a group summons when it stands before Let us cast lots.
Do not force a literal walking sense, and do not turn one narrative imperative into blanket approval of casting lots for decisions.