§ 145. Agreement between the Members of a Sentence, especially between Subject and Predicate, in respect of Gender and Number.
Examples: —
(a) Of collectives proper (cf. § 132 g): (a) with the predicate preceding, Gn 30:38 c
!aoCh; !'aobñT' (cf. 30:39, 31:8 and 33:13); Ju 1:22 f.tyIB;ñ representing persons belonging to the tribe; Mi 4:3yAG ; 2 K 25:5lyIx;ñ army; Pr 11:26~Aal. the people; Nu 10:3hd'[eh'-lB' all the congregation (cf. 1 K 8:5); 1 K 1:40, Is 9:8, 25:3, Am 1:5~[; ; 1 S 17:47, Ezr 10:12lh'q' assembly. Cf. also the construction of national names, as~r'a] (§ 122 i), e. g. 1 K 20:20~r'a] WsnUòY"w" and the Syrians fled; 1 S 4:5.—(b ) with the predicate following, 1 K 8:5rq'b'W !aoc sheep and oxen, construed with the plural in the following relative clause; Jb 1:14Wyh' rq'B'h; tAvr>xaaaaao the cattle (cows) were ploughing; 2 S 3:1and 1 Ch 10:6tyIB;ñ = family (in 1 S 6:13vm,v,ñ tyBe on the analogy of names of countries, is used for the inhabitants of Bethshemesh); Ho 11:7, Ezr 4:4~[; ;y Ps 68:11hY"x; herd [if correct, figuratively for people]; Is 26:19hl'ben> dead bodies; Is 27:11ryciq' boughs; 1 S 4:1,laer'f.yI , preceded by a predicate in the singular.
(b) Of substantives occasionally used as collectives: (a) with the predicate preceding, Gn 34:24 d
rk'z" ; Ju 9:55, 15:10vyai ; Is 16:4smero the treader down.—(b ) with the predicate following, Jb 8:19rxea; = others; Ez 28:3~Wts' a secret; [y Ps 9:7, and even afterhz< Jb 19:19.]
(c) Of feminines as collective terms denoting masculine persons: (a) with all the predicate preceding, 1 S 17:46 e
#r,a'h'-lK' W[d>y)ewI that all the earth may know, i. e. all the inhabitants of the earth; cf. Dt 9:28,y Ps 66:1, 96:1, 9, &c.; Am 1:8tyrIaev. remnant; (y Ps 33:8#r,a'ñh'-lK' ).—(b ) with the predicate following, Gn 41:57, 2 S 15:23, 1 K 10:24, Gn 48:6td,l,ñAm issue; 1 S 2:33tyBir>m;-lK' all the increase; Jb 30:12xx'r>Pi rabble. In Hag 2:7 readtdomux] with the LXX.
Examples of predicates in the singular, notwithstanding the collective meaning of the subject, occur in Gn 35:11, Ex 10:24, 14:10, Dt 1:39, &c.—For examples of bold enallage of the number in noun-clauses with a substantival predicate, see above, § 141 c. f
Rem. Not infrequently the construction begins in the singular (especially when the predicate precedes; see o below), but is carried on, after the collective subject has been mentioned, in the plural; e. g. Ex 1:20 g
~['h' br,YIòw: daom. Wmc.[;Y);w: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty; 33:4.
Rem. The construction of i
~yhil{a/ God with the plural of the predicate may be explained (apart of course from such passages as 1 K 19:2, 20:10, where the speakers are heathen, and~yhil{a/ may, therefore, be a numerical plural) partly as an acquiescence in a polytheistic form of expression, partly from the peculiar usage of one of the early documents of the Hexateuch, called E by Wellhausen, &c., B by Dillmann; cf. his commentary on Numbers—Joshua, p. 618, and above, § 124 g, note 2. So Gn 20:13 (but in conversation with a heathen); 31:53, 35:7, cf. also Jos 24:19. That this construction was afterwards studiously avoided from fear of misconception, is shown by such passages as Neh 9:18 compared with Ex 32:4, 8, and 1 Ch 17:21 compared with 2 S 7:23. Cf. Strack's excursus on Gen 20:13 in Die Genesis, Munich, 1905, p. 77.
Rem. Analogous to the examples above mentioned is the somewhat frequent4 use of suffixes in the singular (distributively) referring to plurals; cf. the verbal-suffixes in Dt 21:10, 28:48, Am 6:10, Is 5:10; and the noun-suffixes in Is 2:8, 30:22, Jer 31:14, Ho 4:8 (but since m
w follows,Avp.n: is undoubtedly a dittography forvp,n)' ), Zc 14:12,y Ps 5:10 (where, however,AmyPi is clearly to be read with all the early versions); 62:5, 141:10 (?), Jb 38:32, Ec 10:15 [but LXXlysiK.h; ]; finally, the suffixes with prepositions in Is 2:20Al-Wf[' rv,a] which they made each one for himself (according to others, which they (the makers) made for him); 5:26, 8:20, Jb 24:5, in each caseAl ; in Gn 2:19Al refers to the collectiveshy"x; and@A[ ; cf. further, Jos 24:7, Is 5:23WNM,ñmi after~yqiyDIc; (but read probablyqyDIc; with the LXX, &c.). Conversely in Mi 1:11~k,l' yrIB.[i [cf. Jer 13:20 Keth.], but the text is undoubtedly corrupt.
(a) The verb, with a following singular feminine, Is 2:17
Rem. 1. The instances in which a preceding predicate appears in the plural masculine before a plural (or collective singular) feminine of persons (Ju 21:21, 1 K 11:3 b), of animals (Gn 30:39 where however p
!aoc may refer specially to male animals) or of things (Lv 26:33, Jer 13:16, Ho 14:7,y Ps 16:4, Jb 3:24, Ct 6:9), or before a dual (2 S 4:1, Zp 3:16, 2 Ch 15:7) are to be explained not on the analogy of the examples under o, but from a dislike of using the 3rd plur. fem. imperf., for this is the only form concerned in the above examples (cf., however, Na 3:11yhiT. instead ofyyIh.Ti ); cf. the examples of a following predicate in the 3rd plur. masc., instead of the fem., under t and u, and on an analogous phenomenon in the imperative, see § 110 k.
2. As in the case of verbs proper so also the verb q
hy"h' , when used as a copula, frequently remains uninflected before the subject; cf. Gn 5:23 ff., 39:5, Dt 21:3 (according to the accents); 22:23, Is 18:5hC'nI hy<h.y)i lmeGO rs,boW and a ripening grape the flower becometh.
Rem. \2. As soon as a sentence which begins with an uninflected predicate is carried on after the mention of the subject, the gender and number of the subsequent (co-ordinate) predicates must coincide with those of the subject, e. g. Gn 1:14 s
Wyh'w> troaom. yhiy> (see o above); Nu 9:6, Ez 14:1; cf. also Gn 30:39 (see p above).
2. The dislike mentioned in p above, of using the feminine form (cf., further, § 144 a, with the sections of the Grammar referred to there, and below, under u), is exemplified sometimes by the fact that of several predicates only that which stands next to the feminine substantive is inflected as feminine (cf. the treatment of several attributes following a feminine substantive, § 132 d); thus in Is 14:9 t
hz"g>r' , and afterwardsrreA[ (butrreA[ is better taken as an infin. abs. = excitando, reading~qeh' for~yqihe ); 33:9lb;a' #r,a,ñ hl'l.m.au mourneth, languisheth the land. Cf. Jer 4:30, Jb 1:19, and the examples (§ 47 k) where only the first of several consecutive forms of the 2nd sing. fem. imperf. has the afformativeiÖ , Is 57:8, Jer 3:5, Ez 22:4, 23:32 (hy<h.Ti afteryTiv.Ti ); on the converse sequence of genders in imperatives, Na 3:15, cf. § 110 k.—Of a different kind are instances like Lv 2:1, 5:1, 20:6, wherevp,n<ò person (fem.) as the narrative continues, assumes (in agreement with the context) the sense of a masculine person.
3. The instances in which the gender or number of the following predicate appears to differ from that of the subject are due partly to manifest errors in the text, e. g. Gn 32:9 read with the Samaritan u
dx'a,h' instead oftx;a;h' È hy"h'w> then follows correctly; 1 S 2:20 read with Wellhausenlauv' , according to 1:28, instead ofla;v' ; 1 S 16:4 readWrm.aoY*w: ; Ez 18:29 instead of!keT'yI read the plural as in verse 25; so also Ez 20:38 foraAby" ,8 and in Jb 6:20 forxj+'B' ; in La 5:10 readrm'k.nI , and cf. in general, § 7 d, note; 1 Ch 2:48 readhd'l.y)' ; in Jer 48:15 also the text is certainly corrupt. Other instances are due to special reasons. The anomalies in Is 49:11, Ho 14:1, Pr 1:16 (afterwyl'g>r; ),y Ps 11:4 (afterwyn"y[e ), 63:4, Pr 5:2, 10:21, 32 18:6, 26:23, Jb 15:6 (all after~yIt;ñp'f. ), pr 3:2 (afteryt;Ac.mi ),y Ps 102:28, Jb 16:22 (aftertAnv' ), Dn 11:41 (readtWBrIw> ), and Perhaps Gn 20:17 are also to be explained (see p) from the dislike of the 3rd plur. fem. imperf.; moreover, in Jer 44:19, Pr 26:23 the plur. masc. even of a participle occurs instead of the plur. fem.—In Gn 31:8 f.hy<h.y)i , after a plural subject, is explained as a case of attraction to the following singular predicate.9—In Gn 4:7#bero is a substantival participle (a lurker, a coucher). In Gn 47:24hy<h.y)i remains undefined in gender (masc.), although the noun precedes for the sake of emphasis; so also in Gn 28:22, Ex 12:49, 28:7, 32, Nu 9:14, 15:29, Jer 50:46, Ec 2:7 (yli hy"h' as if the sentence began afresh, and servants born in my housethere fell to my lot this possession also). In Jb 20:26 xP;nU-aolaaaaa may (unlessvae is regarded as masculine, § 122 o) be taken impersonally, fire, without its being blown upon.—In Is 16:8 and Hb 3:17 the predicate in the singular is explained from the collective character oftAmdev. (see h above); on the other hand, the masculine form of the predicate is abnormal iny Ps 87:3, Pr 2:10, 12:25, 29:25, Jb 8:7, 36:18.
Footnotes:
2[2] On the possibility of explaining forms like
3[3] In Pr 14:1 an abstract plural
5[1] Only rarely does an uninflected predicate precede a personal subject, as 1 S 25:27 (but
6[2] In a certain sense this is analogous to the German es kommt ein Mann, eine Frau, &c.
7[1] This does not include such cases as Jb 24:7, 10, where
8[2]
9[3] So also the pronoun