Proverbs 17:16:1Prov.17.16.W1TAB
לָמָּה־זֶּ֣ה
lamaze
“why this”
- Transliteration
- la-MA-ze
- Extended
- laa-MAH-zeh
- IPA
- /laːmˈmaː.ze/
Meaning by language
- English
- why this
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 | |
| Zayin | z as in zero | |
| Seghol | short 'eh' as in met | |
| He | h as in house; silent at word end |
Tap any letter to hear its name and sound
Now you try — trace the word:
The word
Word in context
- word
la-MA-ze
- clause
la-MA-ze me-KHIR be-YAD-ke-SIL
- sentence
la-MA-ze me-KHIR be-YAD-ke-SIL lik-NOT kha-khe-MA ve-LEV-a-YIN
Exegesis
The verse begins with the interrogative particle lammah {לָמָּה | lā-mah} ‘why’ and the demonstrative zeh {זֶּה | zeh} ‘this’, forming a rhetorical question.
In context — Proverbs 17:16
Why is there this price in the hand of a fool to acquire wisdom , when there is no heart ?
About this coordinate
Proverbs 17:16:1 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 1 of Proverbs 17:16, so the Hebrew word לָמָּה־זֶּ֣ה (lamaze) 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 Prov.17.16.W1, which extends further down to each syllable (Prov.17.16.W1.S1) and character.