Hebrew Syntax in the Organization of Laws 531 13.18-21.24-26.29-34.55-56 all exhibit the ACBC’ pattern shown below: A After the article with the mark has been washed, the priest shall again look, (v. 55) C....................... hnh: and if the mark has not changed its appearance, even though the mark has not spread, Outcome 1: it is unclean; you shall burn it in the fire B µa : Then if the priest looks, (v. 56) C’...................... hnh: and if the mark has faded after it has been washed, Outcome 2: then he shall tear it out of the garment or out of the leather. One might argue here that the particle hnh has more a deictic rather than a conditional force (19). It seems especially so in this passage, where the particle is used in close conjunction with the verb of seeing (har) (20). However, even if this were the case, the function of hnh on the level of the discourse is undeniable. Moreover, the use of hnh in Deut 13,15; 17,4; and 19,18 may suggest a conditional nuance in the particle’s function (21). Below are charts depicting the adherence of the legal texts to these rules. The absence of a check mark does not imply a contradiction to the rule, rather, an absence of examples. More rules apply to the lengthier laws in Leviticus and Numbers that require a more complex system of organization, as compared to the shorter and more succinct laws in Exodus and Deuteronomy. (19) Referring to Lev 13,5, C.J. LABUSCHAGNE, “The Particles ˆh and hnh”, Syntax and Meaning. Studies in Hebrew Syntax and Biblical Exegesis (ed. A. S. VAN DER WOUDE) (OTS 18; Leiden 1983) 5, says “the clause introduced by hnhw is without any doubt a conditional clause”. (20) P. JOÜON, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (trans. and rev. T. MURAOKA) (Rome 1991) 516, n. 1. (21) J. Sterenberg thinks that these three verses with hnh are “apodoses after protases introduced by ejavn,” in contrast to the case in Lev 13 and 14, where “sentences introduced by hnhw occur within the protasis and are to be understood as a part of the protasis introduced by ejavn” (“The Use of Conditional Sentences in the Alexandrian Version of the Pentateuch” [Ph.D. diss., University of Munich; 1908] 3-4). I, however, do not see such a distinction here. In both the Leviticus and Deuteronomy passages, hnh is part of the protasis and presents a course of plot development from the legislative scenario introduced earlier.