Proverbs 22:27:3Prov.22.27.W3TAB
לָ֥מָּה
lammah
“why”
- Transliteration
- lam-MAH
- Extended
- lam-MAAH
- IPA
- /lamˈmaː/
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
lam-MAH
- phraseyour reading level
lam-MAH yik-KAKH mi-she-ka-ve-KHA
- clause
lam-MAH yik-KAKH mi-she-ka-ve-KHA mi-tach-TE-kha
- sentence
im-EIN-le-KHA le-shal-LEM lam-MAH yik-KAKH mi-she-ka-ve-KHA mi-tach-TE-kha
Exegesis
The interrogative lama {לָמָּה | lā-māh} ‘why’ introduces the apodosis, with yiqqáḥ {יִקַּח | yiqqáḥ} ‘should he take’ governing miškāḇḵā {מִשְׁכָּבְךָ | mīškāḇḵā} ‘your bed’ and the prepositional phrase mittaḥtêḵā {מִתַּחְתֶּיךָ | mittaḥtêḵā} ‘from under you.’ This conditional interrogative structure underscores the injustice of seizing a debtor’s basic necessity. English preserves the protasis ‘if’ and the rhetorical ‘why should…?’ while maintaining Hebrew emphasis and word order.
In context — Proverbs 22:27
If you have nothing with which to pay , why should he seize your bed from beneath you?
About this coordinate
Proverbs 22:27:3 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 3 of Proverbs 22:27, so the Hebrew word לָ֥מָּה (lammah) 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.22.27.W3, which extends further down to each syllable (Prov.22.27.W3.S1) and character.