Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/486

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person; cf. e.g. Gn 4022 (41:13), 41:14, 43:34 (and he commanded to set before them, &c.); 46:29, 2 S 129.

 [o 2. Supposed ellipses of a definite subject are due either to a misunderstanding of the passage, or to a corruption of the text. Thus in 1 S 2411 after וַתָּ֫חָס either עֵינִי has dropped out (through confusion with עָלֶ֫יךָ) or we should read with the LXX וָֽאָחֻס. In 2 S 1339 (וַתְּכַל דָּוִד) the text is obviously corrupt.

 [p 3. In poetic (or prophetic) language[1] there sometimes occurs (supposing the text to be correct) a more or less abrupt transition from one person to another. Thus from the 2nd to the 3rd (i.e. from an address to a statement), Gn 494 (?), Is 316 (?), 42:20, 52:14, 61:7, Mal 215 (where, however, for יִבְגֹּד we should undoubtedly read תִּבְגּׄד); ψ 229 [and regularly after a vocative, Is 2216, 478, 481, 541, 11, Jer 2216, 494, 16, Am 56f., Mic 12 (=1 K 2228), Mal 39, 2 K 931; and after הוֹי Is 58, 2915, Jer 2213]. From the 3rd to the 2nd pers., Dt 3215, Is 129 (but read probably חֶמְדָּתָם for חֲמַדְתֶּם, which has caused the insertion of אֲשֶׁר), 5:8, Jer 2919, Jb 167, cf. also Dt 3217. From the 1st to the 3rd pers., La 31 (in a relative clause). In Jb 1328 the 3rd pers. וְהוּא is probably employed δεικτικῶς for the 1st.

§145. Agreement between the Members of a Sentence, especially between Subject and Predicate, in respect of Gender and Number.

 [a 1. As in other languages, so also in Hebrew, the predicate in general conforms to the subject in gender and number (even when it is a pronoun, e.g. זֹאת בְּרִיתִי this is my covenant, Gn 1710). There are, however, numerous exceptions to this fundamental rule. These are due partly to the constructio ad sensum (where attention is paid to the meaning rather than to the grammatical form; see b–l below), partly to the position of the predicate (regarded as being without gender) before the subject.

 [b 2. Singular nouns which include in themselves a collective idea (§ 123 a), or which occasionally have a collective sense (§ 123 b), may readily, in accordance with their meaning, be construed with the plural of the predicate, whether it precedes or follows. This is also the case, when the collective is itself feminine but represents, exclusively or at least generally, masculine persons.

Examples:—

 [c (a) Of collectives proper (cf. § 132 g): (α) with the predicate preceding, Gn 3038 תָּבֹ֫אןָ הַצֹּאן (cf. 30:39, 31:8 and 33:13); Ju 122 f. בַּ֫יִת representing persons belonging to the tribe; Mi 43 גּוֹי; 2 K 255 חַ֫יִל army; Pr 1126 לְאוֹם

  1. In prose, Lv 28; but וְהִקְרִיבָהּ here is hardly the original reading. Different from this is Gn 267, where there is a transition to direct narration.