1 Samuel 13:5:141 Sam.13.5.W14TAB
עַל־שְׂפַֽת־הַיָּ֖ם
alsefathayam
“upon the lip of the sea”
- Transliteration
- al-se-FAT-ha-YAM
- Extended
- ahl-seh-FAHT-hah-YAAM
- IPA
- /ʕal.ʃəfat.hajˈjaːm/
Meaning by language
- English
- upon the lip of the sea
Hebrew · tap a syllable to hear it
Alphabet Analysis
| Ayin | deep guttural stop, voiced pharyngeal | |
| Patach | short 'ah' as in father | |
| Lamed | l as in law | |
| Shin | shin with right dot; sin with left dot | |
| Sheva | vocal sheva — a short 'e' (ə), begins a syllable | |
| Pe | p with dagesh; f without | |
| Patach | short 'ah' as in father | |
| Tav | t as in top | |
| He | h as in house; silent at word end | |
| Patach | short 'ah' as in father | |
| Yod | y as in yes; marks long ī | |
| Qamets | long 'ah' | |
| Mem Sofit | final form of Mem — at word end |
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The word
Word in context
- word
al-se-FAT-ha-YAM
- phraseyour reading level
a-SHER al-se-FAT-ha-YAM
- clause
u-fe-lish-TIM ne-es-fe-U le-hil-la-KHEM im-yis-ra-EL she-lo-SHIM E-lef RE-khev ve-SHE-shet a-la-FIM pa-ra-SHIM ve-AM ka-KHOL a-SHER al-se-FAT-ha-YAM la-ROV
- sentence
u-fe-lish-TIM ne-es-fe-U le-hil-la-KHEM im-yis-ra-EL she-lo-SHIM E-lef RE-khev ve-SHE-shet a-la-FIM pa-ra-SHIM ve-AM ka-KHOL a-SHER al-se-FAT-ha-YAM la-ROV va-ya-a-LU va-ya-kha-NU be-mikh-MAS kid-MAT BET A-ven
Exegesis
The simile ve-am kakhol {וְעָם כַּחוֹל | wə-ʿām ka-ḥôl} ‘and people as sand’ employs the relative pronoun asher {אֲשֶׁר | ʾă-šer} plus the prepositional phrase al-sefat-hayam {עַל־שְׂפַת־הַיָּם | ʿal sə-p̄at ha-yām} ‘on the shore of the sea’ to indicate vastness.
In context — 1 Samuel 13:5
And the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, with thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and a host as numerous as the sand along the shore of the sea. They advanced and encamped at Michmash, to the east of Beth Aven .
About this coordinate
1 Samuel 13:5:14 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 14 of 1 Samuel 13:5, so the Hebrew word עַל־שְׂפַֽת־הַיָּ֖ם (alsefathayam) 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 Sam.13.5.W14, which extends further down to each syllable (1 Sam.13.5.W14.S1) and character.