This study uses modern linguistic theory to analyze a frequently recurring syntactic phenomenon in the Hebrew Bible that has thus far resisted explanation: .

The combination of the two particles and produces a construction that is notoriously difficult to describe, analyze syntactically, and translate. Dictionaries of Biblical Hebrew offer a dizzying variety of translations for this construction, including that if, except, unless, but, but only, and surely, among other possibilities. In this book, Grace J. Park provides a new approach that strives for greater precision and consistency in translation. Park argues that is used in three patterns: the full focus pattern, the reduced focus pattern, and the less common non-focus pattern. Her syntactic analysis of all 156 occurrences of the construction in the Bible lends greater clarity to the contested passages.

Drawing on recent linguistic research into the typology of clausal nominalization as well as previous work on contrastive focus, this innovative project provides important new insight into the syntax of Biblical Hebrew. It will be especially valuable for scholars seeking to translate more consistently and accurately.