Day 26 of 75 · Perception and response
Y-H-B
yahb: give
ויהב
ܘܝܰܗ݈ܒ݂
The feel
To give is to move something from one hand to another: bread, money, responsibility, secrets, authority. This marketplace and table verb also speaks of heaven. Across 224 occurrences, things keep changing hands, and the giver often goes unnamed: “it is given.”
The root family
| Form | Pattern | Transliteration | Script | Standard | Qala rendering |
|---|
| Imperative (sg) | Peal | hab | הב ܗܰܒ݂ | give! | Give us the bread (Mt 6:11) |
| Imperative (pl) | Peal | habw | הבו ܗܰܒ݂ܘ | give! (you all) | You give them something to eat (Mt 14:16) |
| Passive participle | Peal | yihib | יהיב ܝܺܗܺܝܒ݂ | is given | to you it is given (Mt 13:11) |
| Passive imperfect | Ethpeel | netiheb | נתיהב ܢܶܬ݂ܺܝܗܶܒ݂ | it will be given | more will be given (Mt 13:12) |
Paradigm forms are a teaching scaffold from standard Aramaic grammar; corpus-attested words above are drawn from the glossary and interlinears. Note how the imperative sheds the initial y: hab, not yhab.
The verb stems
| Stem | Form | Sense | In this corpus |
|---|
| Peal | yhab / hab | to give: perfect, imperative, participles | throughout: Mt 6:11; 13:11; 14:16 |
| Ethpeel | ʾetiheb | to be given | Mt 7:7; 13:12 |
| Pael | — | — | not attested in this corpus |
| Ethpaal | — | — | not attested in this corpus |
| Aphel | — | — | not attested in this corpus |
| Ettaphal | — | — | not attested in this corpus |
| Shaphel | — | — | not attested in this corpus |
Stem table is a grammar scaffold: how Aramaic bends one root through voice and cause. One oddity worth knowing from standard grammar: in classical Syriac this verb has no active future of its own: "he will give" is supplied by nettel, from the separate root N-T-L. Two roots share one verb's work.
In his voice
Matthew 6:11 · interlinear
Give us the bread we need for today.
hab , the bare imperative at the center of the prayer he taught: one syllable, open-handed, asked daily.
Matthew 14:16 · interlinear
But Yeshua said to them, "They don't need to go. You give them something to eat."
habw , the same imperative turned back on the students, in the plural: the prayer's verb becomes their assignment.
Matthew 13:12 · interlinear
For whoever has, more will be given, until it overflows; but whoever has not, even what he has will be taken from him.
netiheb , "will be given," the Ethpeel passive with no giver named: the reverent grammar of a gift whose source needs no introduction.
Practice
Before you eat, look at the food and say hab lan slowly. Receive the soil, labor, trade, and kitchen within it. Today, become the unnamed hand: give time, food, or attention without signing it.
Say hab for one person, then habw for everyone: give, you all give.
Connections
Witness note: the forms above rest on the Peshitta as the primary witness, with Palestinian Aramaic attestation marked where a Western source carries the word.