Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/381

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a Latin gerundive (or to an adjective in -bilis), e.g. נוֹרָא metuendus, to be feared, ψ 768, &c.; נֶחְמָד desiderandus (desiderabilis) Gn 36, ψ 1911, &c.; נִבְרָא creandus ψ 10219; נוֹלָד, usually natus, but also (like הַיּוּלָּד Ju 138) procreandus, nasciturus 1 K 132, ψ 2232; נַֽעֲרָץ terribilis ψ 898; נִתְעָב abominable Jb 1516; נֶחְשָׁב aestimandus Is 222; הַנֶּֽאֱכֶ֫לֶת that may be eaten (an animal) Lv 1147. In Puʿal מְהֻלָּל laudandus, worthy to be praised ψ 184. In Hophʿal, 2 S 2021 מֻשְׁלָךְ; 2 K 112 הַמּֽוּמָתִים; Is 125 Qe מוּדַ֫עַת.[1]

 [f 3. The participles active, in virtue of their partly verbal character, possess the power of governing like verbs, and consequently, when used in the absolute state, may take after them an object either in the accusative, or with the preposition with which the verb in question is elsewhere usually construed, e.g. 1 S 1829 אֹיֵב אֶת־דָּוִד hating David; Gn 4229; with the suffix of the accusative, e.g. עשֵׂ֫נִי that made me Jb 3115; מִי רֹאֵ֫נוּ who seeth us? Is 2915 (in Is 4710 רֹאָ֫נִי is abnormal); רֹדֵם ruling them ψ 6828, sometimes also with the article, e.g. ψ 1833 הַֽמְאַזְּרֵ֫נִי that girdeth me (LXX ὁ κραταιῶν με); Dt 814–16, 13:6, 11, 20:1, 2 S 124, Is 912 (where, however, Cheyne omits the article), 63:11, ψ 8111, 1034, Dn 116; followed by a preposition, e.g. 1 K 923 הָֽרֹדִים בָּעָם which bare rule over the people; 2 K 205 הִֽנְנִי רֹפֵא לָךְ behold, I will heat thee. [2]

By an exhaustive examination of the statistics, Sellin (see the title at the head of § 113), p. 40 ff., shows that the participle when construed as a verb expresses a single and comparatively transitory act, or relates to particular cases, historical facts, and the like, while the participle construed as a noun (see g) indicates repeated, enduring, or commonly occurring acts, occupations, and thoughts.

So also the verbal adjectives of the form qāṭēl may take an accusative of the person or thing, if the finite verb from which they are derived governs an accusative, e.g. Dt 349 מָלֵא רוּחַ חָכְמָה full of the spirit of wisdom; ψ 55 חָפֵץ רֶ֫שַׁע that hath pleasure in wickedness.

 [g As a sort of noun the participle may, however, also exercise the same government as a noun, being in the construct state, and followed by the object of the action in the genitive (see § 89 a; and cf. § 128 x), e.g. ψ 512 אֹֽהֲבֵי שְׁמֶ֫ךָ that love thy name; cf. ψ 198 f.; also when a verbal adjective, e.g. Gn 2212 and often יְרֵא אֱלֹהִים one fearing

  1. Such examples as נוֹרָא, נֶחְמָד, מְהֻלָּל show plainly the origin of this gerundive use of the participle passive. A person or thing feared, desired, or praised at all times is shown thereby to be terrible, desirable, or praiseworthy, and therefore also to be feared, &c.
  2. On the other hand, in Is. 119 as the waters לַיָּם מְכַסִּים covering the sea, the ל serves only to introduce the object preceding the participle [cf. the Arabic parallels cited by Driver, Tenses, § 135, 7 Obs.]. Cf. Hab. 2:14.