Rhetorical questions (hereafter RQs) can be described as a speech act that has the form of a question, but functions as an emphatic assertion. The most important characteristic of RQs that do not include a wh-phrase is the role of polarity in their interpretation: a negative rhetorical question such as “Don"t babies cry?” implies a positive answer such as “Certainly they do!” In biblical Hebrew, both ha and "im can be used to form polar RQs. One peculiarity of the particle ha, however, is that it can also form RQs that do not involve polarity such as in 2 Kgs 6:32: Do you see…? [Certainly you do!]. Taking the alternation between polar and non-polar RQs formed with ha as a model, previous studies of certain passages in which "im occurs in an RQ have also been interpreted as non-polar (for example, Jer 31:20 and Job 6:13). My investigation of RQs in the Hebrew Bible shows, however, that the particles ha and "im differ precisely as to whether or not they allow non-polar RQs: whereas ha is capable of forming both polar and non-polar RQs, RQs formed with "im always involve polarity.