Affirmative Sentence

Affirmative Sentence
§ 118. Affirmative force is given in various ways, eg.— (1) By casus pendens, Genesis 3:12 the woman... she gave me, Genesis 42:11 (§ 106). (2) By expression of pron. either alone or with vav, ‏גַּם‎, &c. Genesis 4:4; Genesis 20:5, Isaiah 14:10. (3) By inf. abs. (§ 86). (4) By repetition of words, Isaiah 38:19, the living, the living. Ecclesiastes 7:24 deep, deep, who shall find it? Is. Ecclesiastes 6:3, Jeremiah 7:4.
Affirmative particles are ‏אְַבָל‎ truly, Genesis 42:21 ‏אְַבָל אְַשֵׁמִים אְַנַחְנוּ‎ verily we are guilty; 2 Samuel 14:5, 1 Kings 1:43; later a particle of contrast, Daniel 10:7, Daniel 10:21.—‏אַךְ‎ truly, surely, Genesis 26:9 ‏אַךְ אִשְׁתְּךָ הִוא‎ in truth she is thy wife. 1 Samuel 16:6, Hosea 12:8. So ‏אָכֵן‎, Exodus 2:14 ‏אָכֵן נוֹדַע הַדָּבָר‎ verily the thing is known. Genesis 28:16, 1 Samuel 15:32, Isaiah 53:4.
Rem. 1. Also various derivatives of ‏אמן‎, e.g. ‏אָמְנָם‎ verily; in truth, 2 Kings 19:17; ironically Job 9:2; Job 12:2 verily ye are the people. Also ‏אֻמְנָם‎ id. (always with interrog.), Numbers 22:37, Genesis 18:13, 1 Kings 8:27. So ‏אָמְנָה‎, Genesis 20:12, Joshua 7:20.
The word ‏כִּי‎ often strengthens. Genesis 18:20 the cry of Sodom ‏כִּי רַבָּה‎ (surely) it is great. Particularly in antithesis after neg.: Genesis 18:15 ‏לֹא כִּי צָחַקְתְּ‎ nay, thou didst laugh.
1 Kings 3:22 ‏לֹא כִּי בְנִי הַחַי‎ no! my child is the live one. And so usually, Joshua 5:14; Joshua 24:21, Judges 15:13, 1 Samuel 2:16 (‏לו‎ = ‏לא‎), 2 Samuel 16:18 (‏לא‎ = ‏לו‎ last cl.), 1 Kings 2:30, 2 Kings 3:13 ‏אַל‎; 2 Kings 20:10, Isaiah 30:16, Psalms 49:10.
§ 119. The oath.—‏אֵל‎, ‏יהוה‎, ‏אלהים‎, ‏חַי אָֽנִי‎ as I live, as God, Je. liveth; but ‏פַרְעֹה‎, ‏חֵי נַפְשְׁךָ‎ as thy soul, Phar., &c., liveth. With pron. I and divine names the form is ‏חַי‎, otherwise ‏חֵי‎, cf. the curious ‏חֵי אֱלֹהֶיךָ דָּן‎ Amos 8:14 as thy god, O Dan, liveth.— Judges 8:19 ‏חַי יהוה‎. 2 Samuel 2:27
‏חַי הָֽאלהים‎, Jeremiah 44:26 ‏חַי אְַדֹנָי י׳‎, Job 27:2 ‏חַי־אֵל‎, 1 Kings 18:10, 1 Kings 18:15.—Numbers 14:21, Numbers 14:28 ‏חַי אָֽנִי‎; usually this shorter form (Deuteronomy 32:40 ‏אָֽנֹכִי‎) and invariably so pointed.—1 Samuel 20:3 ‏חַי י׳ וְחֵי נַפְשְׁךָ‎, 1 Samuel 25:26; Genesis 42:15, 2 Samuel 15:21.
§ 120. The oath of denial is made by ‏אִם‎ if = that not; of affirmation by ‏אִם לֹא‎ if not = that, or ‏כִּי‎ that. 1 Samuel 19:6 ‏חַי י׳ אִם יוּמַת‎ he shall not be put to death, 1 Kings 1:51 ‏יִשָּׁבַע־לִי כַיּוֹם אִם יָמִית‎ let him swear to me first that he will not kill me. Genesis 42:15, 1 Samuel 24:21; 1 Samuel 30:15.—1 Kings 18:15 ‏חַי י׳ כִּי הַיּוֹם אֵֽרָאֶה אֵלָיו‎ I will show myself to him today; Isaiah 45:23 ‏בִּי נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי כִּי לִי תִּכְרַע כָּל־בֶּרֶךְ‎ I have sworn by myself that to me every knee shall bow. 1 Samuel 14:44; 1 Samuel 20:3; 1 Samuel 29:6. Job 1:11 ‏אִם לֹא יְבָֽרְַכֶךָּ‎ (I swear) he will disavow thee. Joshua 14:9, 2 Kings 9:26.
Rem. 1. The word ‏אַךְ‎ has also restrictive force, only, Genesis 18:32 only this once, 1 Samuel 18:8 only the kingdom. So in sense of utterly with adj. Deuteronomy 16:15, Isaiah 16:7. Similarly ‏רַק‎, § 153.
Rem. 2. ‏חַי אַתָּה‎ is not said; ‏חַיֶּךָ‎ by thy life, 2 Samuel 11:11, if text right. Cf. Dr. or Well. in loc.
Rem. 3. Exx. of ‏אם‎ Genesis 21:23, Numbers 14:23, 1 Samuel 3:14, 1 Samuel 3:17; 1 Samuel 14:45; 1 Samuel 17:55; 1 Samuel 28:10, 2 Samuel 11:11; 2 Samuel 14:11, 2 Kings 2:2; 2 Kings 3:14; 2 Kings 6:31, Isaiah 22:14, Psalms 89:1-52, Psalms 36:1-12; Psalms 132:3, Psalms 132:4. Of ‏כי‎ 1 Samuel 14:39; 1 Samuel 26:16; 1 Samuel 29:6, 2 Samuel 3:9, 1 Kings 18:15, 2 Kings 5:20, Jeremiah 22:5. Of ‏אם לא‎ Numbers 14:28, 2 Samuel 19:13, 1 Kings 20:23, Isaiah 5:9; Isaiah 14:24, Jeremiah 15:11.—In many cases there is no formal oath, and the particles merely express strong denial or affirmation. Psalms 131:2.
Rem. 4. The full formula ‏כֹּה יַֽעְַשֶׂה־לִּי אלהים‎ God do so to me, &c., occurs only in 1, 2 S., 1, 2 K., and Ru., e.g. 1 Samuel 3:17; 1 Samuel 14:44, 1 Kings 2:23, 2 Kings 6:31, Rth_1:17. The formula is followed by pos. or neg. statement. Usually ‏לִי‎ or the speaker's own name is used (1 Samuel 20:13, 2 Samuel 3:9); therefore in 1 Samuel 25:22 rd. ‏לְדָוִד‎ with Sep., and possibly ‏לי‎ has fallen out 1 Samuel 14:44 (Sep.), but cf. 1 Kings 19:2. In 1 Samuel 3:17 ‏לך‎ of person adjured.
Rem. 5. When a clause intervenes before the thing sworn ‏כי‎ is often repeated, 2 Samuel 2:27; 2 Samuel 3:9; 2 Samuel 15:21, 1 Kings 1:30, Jeremiah 22:24, Genesis 22:16. In ‏כי אם‎ the ‏אם‎ is sometimes merely conditional, that, if 1 Samuel 14:39, Jeremiah 22:24, cf. Deuteronomy 32:40. In other cases the use of ‏כי אם‎ is peculiar. (1) 2 Samuel 3:35 with 2 Kings 3:14 seems to show that the use of ‏כי‎ in the oath was customary without ref. to the pos. or neg. nature of the thing sworn (apod.). The ‏כי‎, which may be repeated, merely adds force to the whole statement. (2) On the other hand, in such passages as Judges 15:7, 1 Kings 20:6, 2 Samuel 15:21, the ‏אם‎ seems pleonastic. Its idiomatic use may in some way add force to the ‏כי‎, though the origin of the idiom is difficult to trace. It can scarcely be the same use of ‏אם‎ as occurs after a neg. or exception, but ( = "yes, if").