1 Chronicles 17:6:141 Chr.17.6.W14TAB
לָ֛מָּה
lama
“why”
- Transliteration
- la-MA
- Extended
- laa-MAH
- IPA
- /lɑːmˈmɑː/
Meaning by language
- English
- why
Hebrew · tap a syllable to hear it
Alphabet Analysis
| Lamed | l as in law | |
| Qamets | long 'ah' | |
| Mem | m as in mother | |
| Qamets | long 'ah' | |
| He | h as in house; silent at word end |
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The word
Word in context
- word
la-MA
- clause
la-MA lo-ve-ni-TEM LI BET a-ra-ZIM
- sentence
be-KHOL a-sher-hit-ha-LAKH-ti be-khol-yis-ra-EL ha-da-VAR dib-BAR-ti et-a-KHAD shof-TE yis-ra-EL a-SHER tsi-VI-ti lir-OT et-am-MI le-MOR la-MA lo-ve-ni-TEM LI BET a-ra-ZIM
Exegesis
Lemor {לֵאמֹ֑ר | lēʾmōr} introduces the quoted challenge, and the final clause lammah lo-venitem li bet arazim {לָ֛מָּה לֹא־בְנִיתֶ֥ם לִ֖י בֵּ֥ית אֲרָזִֽים | lām·māh lō-ḇənîṯem lî bêṯ ʾărāzîm} frames the issue as accountability: leadership was never instructed to construct a prestigious cedar-built temple, so the building impulse must be evaluated in light of divine initiative rather than human expectation.
In context — 1 Chronicles 17:6
Wherever I have walked throughout all Israel, did I speak a word to any one of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, saying, “Why have you not built for Me a house of cedars?”
About this coordinate
1 Chronicles 17:6:14 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 14 of 1 Chronicles 17:6, so the Hebrew word לָ֛מָּה (lama) can be cited, linked and studied at exactly this position rather than somewhere in the verse. In the Biblical Knowledge Coordinate System the same position is written 1 Chr.17.6.W14, which extends further down to each syllable (1 Chr.17.6.W14.S1) and character.