Mispronouncing God into a Camel (Psalm 13:6)

Students of Biblical Hebrew would learn about two vowels: the qāmeṣ and the paṯaḥ. Today, most Hebrew-speakers pronounce these two vowels in exactly the same manner. However, these vowels are not the same, and they are not interchangeable!

Psalm 13:6 says,

I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me. (ESV)

The Hebrew word for “dealt bountifully” here is ḡāmal (גָמַל). It has two vowels: the first vowel is a qāmeṣ, and the second vowel is a paṯaḥ. If the second vowel were changed into a qāmeṣ, then the resulting word would be ḡāmāl (גָמָל). However, with this seemingly small change of vowel, the meaning of the verse would also change!

I will sing to the LORD, because he is a camel on top of me.

Indeed, most Modern Hebrew-speakers would pronounce ḡāmal and ḡāmāl in the same manner. Yet, both words actually have different meanings: “deal bountifully” and “camel” respectively. The vowels make a difference!

Of course, in most cases, it is clear from the context which word was intended. Nonetheless, the vowels qāmeṣ and paṯaḥ originally represented two different sounds. It was only later on that they came to be pronounced identically by Hebrew-speakers.