1 Samuel 17:8:71 Sam.17.8.W7TAB
לָ֥מָּה
lama
“why”
- Transliteration
- la-MA
- Extended
- laa-MAA
- IPA
- /laːˈmːaː/
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
- phraseyour reading level
la-MA te-tse-U
- clause
va-ya-a-MOD va-yik-RA el-ma-a-re-KHOT yis-ra-EL va-yo-MER la-HEM la-MA te-tse-U la-a-ROKH mil-kha-MA
- sentence
va-ya-a-MOD va-yik-RA el-ma-a-re-KHOT yis-ra-EL va-yo-MER la-HEM la-MA te-tse-U la-a-ROKH mil-kha-MA ha-lo a-no-KHI ha-pe-lish-TI ve-a-TEM a-va-DIM le-sha-UL be-RU-la-KHEM ISH ve-ye-RED e-LAI
Exegesis
The interrogative lāmmah {לָמָּה | lāmmah} ‘why’, reinforced by hālō’ {הֲלוֹא | hallōʾ} ‘is it not’, frames Goliath’s rhetorical challenge.
In context — 1 Samuel 17:8
He stood and summoned Israel’s ranks and addressed them, “Why have you come out to arrange battle ? Am I not a Philistine, and you servants of Saul ? Select one man from among you and let him come down to confront me.”
About this coordinate
1 Samuel 17:8:7 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 7 of 1 Samuel 17:8, so the Hebrew word לָ֥מָּה (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 Sam.17.8.W7, which extends further down to each syllable (1 Sam.17.8.W7.S1) and character.