וַיְחַיֶּ֕הָ (way·ḥay·ye·hā) in 2 Samuel 12:3: Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person feminine singular
וַיְחַיֶּ֕הָ (way·ḥay·ye·hā) in 2 Samuel 12:3
Source Word
Second Samuel 12:3 row 11 aligns the H2421 form with He raised it at the beginning of the lamb's household life.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
He raised it establishes the poor man as caregiver and the ewe lamb as the suffix-marked recipient, opening the intimate household portrait that gives the parable its force. Raised communicates the causative sense of keeping the lamb alive and nurturing it, while it represents the feminine singular suffix.
How To Communicate It
Track the poor man as agent and the lamb as suffix-marked object, then follow the details of shared food, cup, arms, and daughter-like affection into the parable's accusation.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not isolate the causative stem into a doctrine of nurture or allegorize the lamb apart from Nathan's exposure of David's injustice.
- The feminine suffix refers to the ewe lamb.
- The form does not by itself define animal husbandry, literal adoption, or the parable's verdict against David.
What Does The Label Mean?
Hebrew-verb
Verb
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular | third person feminine singular
Piel
ConsecImperf
Third
Masculine
Singular
Not applicable
Waw conjunction
Third person feminine singular
The waw-linked Piel consecutive imperfect advances Nathan's story with the poor man as masculine singular agent, and the attached feminine singular suffix identifies the ewe lamb he kept alive and raised.
The causative form begins the care sequence that lets the lamb grow with the household, share food and drink, and become like a daughter.
What The Form Does In This Verse
The poor man's acquisition and care of his one small ewe lamb
Nathan's parable contrasting the poor man's cherished lamb with the rich man's many flocks before exposing David's injustice
The causative form begins the care sequence that lets the lamb grow with the household, share food and drink, and become like a daughter.
The form does not by itself define animal husbandry, literal adoption, or the parable's verdict against David.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The form launches the care sequence that makes the poor man's loss the moral center of Nathan's parable.
The waw-linked Piel consecutive imperfect advances Nathan's story with the poor man as masculine singular agent, and the attached feminine singular suffix identifies the ewe lamb he kept alive and raised.. The causative form begins the care sequence that lets the lamb grow with the household, share food and drink, and become like a daughter.. Attached to the poor man's acquisition and care of his one small ewe lamb. Governed by Nathan's parable contrasting the poor man's cherished lamb with the rich man's many flocks before exposing David's injustice. The form does not by itself define animal husbandry, literal adoption, or the parable's verdict against David.
What does He raised it contribute to Nathan's parable in Second Samuel 12:3? It begins a sequence of sustained care that makes the lamb's place in the poor man's household emotionally and morally significant.
Direct: Raised communicates the causative sense of keeping the lamb alive and nurturing it, while it represents the feminine singular suffix.
The feminine suffix refers to the ewe lamb. Raised summarizes causative nurture in this context, not resurrection or a general lexical rule for every Piel occurrence.
Conj-w | V-Piel-ConsecImperf-3ms | 3fs at 2 Samuel 12:3 treated as the whole interpretation: Do not isolate the causative stem into a doctrine of nurture or allegorize the lamb apart from Nathan's exposure of David's injustice. the lamb's upbringing allegorized detail by detail apart from Nathan's confrontation of David: Keep "He raised it" connected to וַיְחַיֶּ֕הָ, row 11, and the full 2 Samuel 12:3 clause.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
Second Samuel 12:3 row 11 aligns the H2421 form with He raised it at the beginning of the lamb's household life.
The row 11 H2421 witness uses the live lemma causatively for sustaining and raising the ewe lamb, not for the human life principle described in Deuteronomy 8:3.
The waw-linked Piel consecutive imperfect advances Nathan's story with the poor man as masculine singular agent, and the attached feminine singular suffix identifies the ewe lamb he kept alive and raised.
Second Samuel 12:3 makes the poor man's sustained care and attachment vivid so the rich man's seizure in the next verse will expose the cruelty of David's act.
The raised lamb functions within Nathan's prophetic parable and its confrontation of David; applications should follow the story's moral disclosure rather than allegorize every detail.
Track the poor man as agent and the lamb as suffix-marked object, then follow the details of shared food, cup, arms, and daughter-like affection into the parable's accusation.
Do not isolate the causative stem into a doctrine of nurture or allegorize the lamb apart from Nathan's exposure of David's injustice.