וְנָשְׂא֨וּ עָלַ֤יִךְ קִינָה֙ וְאָ֣מְרוּ לָ֔ךְ אֵ֣יךְ אָבַ֔דְתְּ נוֹשֶׁ֖בֶת מִיַּמִּ֑ים הָעִ֣יר הַהֻלָּ֗לָה אֲשֶׁר֩ הָיְתָ֨ה חֲזָקָ֤ה בַיָּם֙ הִ֣יא וְיֹשְׁבֶ֔יהָ אֲשֶׁר־נָתְנ֥וּ חִתִּיתָ֖ם לְכָל־יוֹשְׁבֶֽיהָ׃
Mereka akan melantunkan ratapan tentang engkau dan berkata kepadamu: “Betapa engkau telah binasa, hai engkau yang didiami dengan kokoh, dilindungi lautan, hai kota yang termasyhur, yang dahulu perkasa di laut! Kota itu dan penduduknya menebarkan kegentaran kepada semua orang yang tinggal di sekitarnya!”
Ibn Ezra
Many grammarians have said that the interrogatory heh doubles the consonant that follows it only when the consonant is pronounced with a voiced schwa, but not with any of the seven other vowels. In such a case the heh is pronounced with a pattaḥ because the language will not permit two voiced semi-vowels to follow one another. Because the yod in would it have pleased [Hebrew: hayyiṭav] is doubled, they say that the heh must be the sign of the definite article, as in “the one that came back with Naomi” [Ruth 2:6], “the ones that are present here” [I Chronicles 29:17], and “the city that was strong” [Ezekiel 26:17]. There the heh acts as a relative pronoun, and they say the same is true here with hayyiṭav . They also say that the verb if I were to eat is really in the simple past tense — if it were in the subjunctive, it would be stressed on the final syllable (compare, “I have spoken by the prophets” [Hosea 12:11] and “I shall speak to you” [Exodus 25:22]) — and that Aaron refers to their (his burnt sons’) sin-offering and their burnt-offering because the calf and the ram were for Aaron and his sons.