2 Samuel 13:26:112 Sam.13.26.W11TAB
לָ֥מָּה
lama
“why”
- Transliteration
- la-MA
- Extended
- laa-MAA
- IPA
- /laːmˈmɔː/
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 ye-LEKH
- clause
va-YO-mer LO ha-ME-lekh la-MA ye-LEKH i-MA-kh
- sentence
va-YO-mer av-sha-LOM va-LO YE-lekh-NA i-TA-nu am-NON a-KHI va-YO-mer LO ha-ME-lekh la-MA ye-LEKH i-MA-kh
Exegesis
The second vayomer {וַיֹּ֤אמֶר | wayyōmer} shifts to the king’s response, with hammelekh {הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ | hammēleḵ} ‘the king’ and the interrogative lamah {לָ֥מָּה | lāmâ} ‘why’, followed by the clause yelekh imakh {יֵלֵ֖ךְ עִמָּֽךְ | yēleḵ ʿimmak} ‘should he go with you’. The Hebrew uses back-to-back vav-consecutive verbs to frame the petition and the inquiry, while the English renders these shifts into natural speech order without losing narrative force.
In context — 2 Samuel 13:26
And Absalom said, “If not, please let Amnon my brother go with us.” And the king said to him, “Why should he go with you?”
About this coordinate
2 Samuel 13:26:11 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 11 of 2 Samuel 13:26, 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 2 Sam.13.26.W11, which extends further down to each syllable (2 Sam.13.26.W11.S1) and character.