the causal relation expressed by
כִּי is sometimes subtle, especially in poetry, and not apparent without careful study of a passage. Thus sometimes it justifies a statement or description by pointing to a pregnant fact which involves it, as
Yeshaya 3:8 Iyov 6:21 (ground of the comparison v
Iyov 6:15-20),
Iyov 14:16 (
For …: ground of the wishes expressed v
Iyov 14:13-15),
Iyov 16:22 (ground of v
Iyov 16:20)
Iyov 30:26 (
For …), or by pointing to a general truth which it exemplifies
Iyov 5:6 (reason why complaining v
Iyov 5:2-5 is foolish),
Iyov 15:34;
Iyov 23:14; sometimes it is
explicative, justifying a statement by unfolding the particulars wh. establish or exemplify it
Shmuel Beis 23:5 Yeshaya 1:30;
Yeshaya 5:7;
Yeshaya 7:8;
Yeshaya 9:4;
Yeshaya 10:8-11;
Yeshaya 13:10 (development of v
Yeshaya 13:9),
Yeshaya 32:6 (developing the characters of the
נָבָל and
כִּילַי, and so explaining why they will no longer be esteemed v
Yeshaya 13:5);
Iyov 11:16 (explic. of v
Iyov 11:15),
Iyov 18:8 (justifying v
Iyov 18:7),
Iyov 22:26 (justifying v
Iyov 22:25); elsewhere the cause is expressed indirectly or figuratively
Yeshaya 2:6 (reason why invitation v
Yeshaya 2:5 is needed),
Yeshaya 5:10 (sterility of the soil the cause of the desolation v
Yeshaya 5:9),
Yeshaya 18:5;
Yeshaya 28:8 (proof of the intoxication v
Yeshaya 5:7),
Yeshaya 31:7 (reason for the exhortation v
Yeshaya 31:6: the certainty that the folly of idolatry will soon be recognized),
Iyov 7:21 (for soon it will be too late to pardon),
Iyov 27:8-10 (Job wishes his enemy the lot of the wicked,
because this is so hopeless); or
כִּי relates not to the see which immed. precedes or follows, but to several, as
Yeshaya 7:16 (v
Yeshaya 7:17 specially the ground of the people being reduced to simple fare v
Yeshaya 7:15),
Yeshaya 21:6 (ground of the statements v
Yeshaya 7:1-5),
Iyov 4:5 (ground of v
Yeshaya 7:2),
Iyov 14:7-12 (v
Iyov 14:10-12 specially the ground for the appeal in v
Iyov 14:6),
Iyov 23:10-13 (ground why God cannot be found v
Iyov 23:8),
Tehillim 73:21 (ground not of v
Tehillim 73:20, but of general train of thought v
Tehillim 73:2-14); so also
Breishis 4:24 Devarim 18:14 Yeshaya 12:1 Yirmiya 30:11 the reason lies not in the words immed. after
כִּי, but in the second part of the sentence; or, on the other hand, it may state the reason for a partic. word,
Yeshaya 28:20 (justifying ‘nought but terror’ v
Yeshaya 28:19),
Iyov 23:17 (
God’s hostility v
Iyov 23:16 the cause of his misery, not the calamity as such). Sometimes also
כִּי, in a poet. or rhet. style, gives the reason for a thought not expressed but implied, especially the answer to a qu.;
Yeshaya 28:11 (the mockeries of v
Yeshaya 28:10 have a meaning) ‘
for with men of strange lips, etc. he will speak unto this people,’ who will retort the mockeries, charged with a new and terrible meaning, upon those who uttered them (v
Yeshaya 28:13); = (no,)
for Yeshaya 28:28 (see Revised Version margin),
Iyov 22:2 no, he that is wise is profitable to himself,
Iyov 31:18;
Iyov 39:14 (see v
Iyov 39:13),
Tehillim 44:24 (he cannot do this, v
Tehillim 44:23)
for for thy sake are we killed, etc.,
Tehillim 130:4 no, with thee is forgiveness; = (yes,)
for Yeshaya 49:25 (see the qu. v
Yeshaya 49:24),
Yeshaya 66:8.