Shel marks a specified person or matter within clauses of questioning, knowing, and responsibility.

The attested forms mark reference to a person or matter within clauses: a king's demand to identify someone in 2 Kings 6:11, a statement about what cannot be found out in Ecclesiastes 8:17, and Jonah's acknowledgment of responsibility for a tempest in Jonah 1:12.

1. Reference within identifying statements · dominant

   In 2 Kings 6:11, the first-common-plural pronominal form occurs in the king's demand to identify someone aligned with the king of Israel. In Jonah 1:12, the first-common-singular pronominal form occurs in Jonah's statement that the great tempest is on his account; Ecclesiastes 8:17 uses the prepositional form in its statement that a person cannot find out God's deed.

   2 Kings 6:11Ecclesiastes 8:17Jonah 1:12

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB presents the three clauses as a demand for identification, an inability to discover God's deed, and Jonah's acknowledgment of responsibility for the tempest. The precise English contribution of the term cannot be isolated in each verse.