2 Samuel 16:2:42 Sam.16.2.W4TAB
מָה־אֵ֣לֶּה
maele
“what are these”
- Transliteration
- ma-E-le
- Extended
- mah-EH-leh
- IPA
- /maːˈʔɛl.lɛ/
Meaning by language
- English
- what are these
Hebrew · tap a syllable to hear it
Alphabet Analysis
| Mem | m as in mother | |
| Qamets | long 'ah' | |
| He | h as in house; silent at word end | |
| Aleph | silent — a glottal stop; holds vowel points | |
| Tsere | long 'ey' as in they | |
| Lamed | l as in law | |
| Seghol | short 'eh' as in met | |
| He | h as in house; silent at word end |
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The word
Word in context
- word
ma-E-le
- phraseyour reading level
ma-E-le LAKH
- clause
va-YO-mer ha-ME-lekh el-tsi-va ma-E-le LAKH
- sentence
va-YO-mer ha-ME-lekh el-tsi-va ma-E-le LAKH va-YO-mer tsi-VA ha-kha-mo-RIM le-VEIT-ha-ME-lekh lir-KHOV ve-le-le-KHEM ve-hal-LE-khem ve-ha-ka-YITS le-e-KHOL han-ne-a-RIM ve-ha-ya-YIN lish-TE-ot ha-ya-EF ba-mid-BAR
Exegesis
The question mah-ʾelleh-lāk {מָה־אֵלֶּה לָּךְ | māh-ʾelleh-lāk} ‘what are these to you’ employs an interrogative pronoun plus demonstrative and pronominal suffix to express inquiry and ownership.
In context — 2 Samuel 16:2
And the king said to Ziba, “What are these to you?” And Ziba replied, “The donkeys are for the house of the king to ride, and the bread and the summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine for the weary to drink in the wilderness.”
About this coordinate
2 Samuel 16:2:4 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 4 of 2 Samuel 16:2, so the Hebrew word מָה־אֵ֣לֶּה (maele) 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.16.2.W4, which extends further down to each syllable (2 Sam.16.2.W4.S1) and character.