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When reciting Psalm 81 on Thursdays, I'm always puzzled how can we decide whether the last letter ך of the psalm should get a dagesh or not. In the Aleppo Codex it is clearly written without dagesh:

Aleppo Codex

Same in the Leningrad Codex:

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I've noticed that Heidenheim didn't add it either (just like all other contemporary digital editions), yet ArtScroll and many other prayer books I had in my hand over the years had ָךּ in the word אשביעך. What determines whether we write the kaf of the second person singular suffix with a dagesh?

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  • Are you asking about kaf-pshuta-dgusha generally, or how this corruption of tanakh made it into so many siddurim?
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Jul 1 at 15:56
  • Siddur of R' Shabbtai Soffer does not have a dagesh but siddur of R' Yaakov Emden has it. The sephardic siddur עוד יוסף חי nussach R' Yossef Chaim has it. Trying to find out where it could be coming from.
    – Y DJ
    Commented Nov 15 at 5:08
  • @YDJ Exactly where in Rav Emden's siddur? I don't recall having seen the section of daily psalms there.
    – Kazi bácsi
    Commented Nov 19 at 9:17
  • שירי הלוים, דף שמו. There is no comment, on the word אשביעך except for לעתיד. Siddur haGRA also has dagesh (both old and new editions).
    – Y DJ
    Commented Nov 19 at 14:00
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    @YDJ It seems that you're not looking at the original edition. Forget everything that you see in newer ones, because they have changed the original nusach.
    – Kazi bácsi
    Commented Nov 19 at 14:32

2 Answers 2

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The Avodas Yisroel siddur has the following comment at Psalm 81:

אשביעֶֽךָ בקו רפא על הכ"ף בכ"י וכן גם בדפוסים קדמונים הכ"ף רפויה, והוא הנכון ע"פ הכלל כי עתידי ובינוני הפעיל לא יבאו בכ"ף דגושה באס"ף מלבד כשהם מנחי למד"י ה"א, וע"כ ישחיתֶךָֿ (דברים ד', ל"א) נמיתֶךָֿ (ירמיה ל"ח, כ"ה) אוכיחֶךָֿ (תהלים נ', ח') משביעֶךָֿ (מ"א כ"ב, ט"ז) ודומיהם כולם רפויי הכ"ף.‏

Baer suggests that in pausal forms (etnachta and sof passuq) of the הפעיל conjugation the final kaf doesn't get a dagesh unless its final root letter is a hei (or yud in current usage).

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  • @Kazibácsi I believe he means אס״ף=אתנח סוף פסוק or what we'd call a pausal form. נחי למד הא means a root whose third radical is a ה. Meaning his rule is pausal forms (of present and future הפעיל verbs) only get a dagesh in the final ך if it's a root ending in ה (unlike the OP's case of שבע)
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Jul 1 at 15:59
  • He seems to be saying that the rule of kaf degusha following a segol (explained in the answer I posted) is not applied when dealing with a binyan הפעיל in future or present tense, unless the final letter of the root is a ה, in which case it is dropped when adding the ך and a dagesh will be added. This would explain the ךּ in אַרְאֶךָּ, despite it being a binyan הפעיל, because the ה of אַרְאֶה is dropped.
    – Yø-c Ro
    Commented Jul 1 at 16:00
  • @DoubleAA If you have some insight on how the version with dagesh became widespread, it would be great if you could add!
    – Kazi bácsi
    Commented Jul 1 at 16:30
  • What about Job 5:19 יצילֶךָּ? Or Job 40:4 אשיבֶךָּ? And anyway, the dagesh here has the same origin as the dagesh in the nun of אשיבֶנּו (Gen 42:37), which is everywhere.
    – magicker72
    Commented Jul 1 at 16:31
  • What about ירבֶךָֿ in Gen 28:3 or יודֶךָֿ in Is 38:19?
    – magicker72
    Commented Jul 1 at 16:35
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The rule in general is that when the verb’s suffix ך- is preceded by a segol, it will be given a dagesh. When it is preceded by a shva (or a hataf patach) it will be a soft ך.

This will depend on whether the verb appears at the end of a clause (e.g. Tehilim 121:6 יוֺמָם הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ לֹא יַכֶּכָּה; Tehilim 30:2 אֲרוֺמִמְךָ ה׳) or in middle of a clause (e.g. Devarim 28:28 יַכְּכָה ה׳; Tehilim 118:28 אֱלֹקַי אֲרוֺמְמֶךָּ).

EDIT: In light of Avrohom Yitzchak’s answer:

This rule of kaf degusha following a segol is not applied when dealing with a binyan הפעיל in future or present tense, unless the final letter of the root is a ה, in which case it is dropped when adding the ך and a dagesh will be added. This would explain the ךּ in אַרְאֶךָּ, despite it being a binyan הפעיל, because the ה of אַרְאֶה is dropped.

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  • The preceding vowel is a segol, yet there is no dagesh in the khaf here.
    – Kazi bácsi
    Commented Jul 1 at 15:54
  • I disagree entirely. Do you have a source to back your answer?
    – Qwertrl
    Commented Sep 22 at 0:15
  • @QwertyCTRL. Can you be specific about what you disagree with? Most of what I wrote is basic laws of dikduk, and the edit is based on Avrohom Yitzchok’s answer, which he quotes from the Avodas Yisrael siddur.
    – Yø-c Ro
    Commented Sep 22 at 2:12
  • I disagree with your proposed “basic laws of dikduk”, based on the sources I’ve read throughout the years, which seem to be supported by the evolution of Hebrew vowels.
    – Qwertrl
    Commented Sep 22 at 13:39
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    I apologize. I was referring to verbs, not the possessive ך added to nouns. I’ve edited my answer to make that clearer.
    – Yø-c Ro
    Commented Sep 23 at 19:26

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