Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/492

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predicate with כָּל־ is explained from the stress laid upon the latter, כָּל־מְלָאכָה לֹא being equivalent to the whole of work (is forbidden).

 [d 2. When the subject of the sentence consists of several nouns connected by wāw copulative, usually

(a) The predicate following is put in the plural, e.g. Gn 8 seed time and harvest, and cold and heat... shall not cease (לֹא יִשְׁבֹּ֫תוּ); after subjects of different genders it is in the masculine (as the prior gender, cf. § 132 d), e.g. Gn 18 אַבְרָהָם וְשָׂרָה זְקֵנִים Abraham and Sarah were old; Dt 28, 1 K 1.

 [e Rem. Rare exceptions are Pr 27 שֶׁ֫מֶן וּקְטֹ֫רֶת יְשַׂמַּח־לֵב ointment and perfume rejoice the heart, where the predicate agrees in gender with the masculine שֶׁ֫מֶן (as in Is 51 with שָׂשׂוֹן); on the other hand, in Ex 21 (where הָֽאִשָּׁה וִֽילָדֶ֫יהָ are the subjects) it agrees with הָֽאִשָּׁה as being the principal person; in the compound sentence, Is 9, it agrees with the feminine subject immediately preceding.[1]

 [f (b) The predicate preceding two or more subjects may likewise be used in the plural (Gn 40, Jb 3, &c.); not infrequently, however, it agrees in gender and number with the first, as being the subject nearest to it. Thus the predicate is put in the singular masculine before several masculines singular in Gn 9, 11, 21, 24, 34, Ju 14; before a masculine and a feminine singular, e.g. Gn 3, 24 then said (וַיּאֹ֫מֶר) her brother and her mother; 33:7; before a masculine singular and a plural, e.g. Gn 7 וַיָּבֹא נֹחַ וּבָנָיו and Noah went in, and his sons, &c.; Gn 8 (where feminines plural also follow); 44:14, Ex 15, 2 S 5; before collectives feminine and masculine, 2 S 12.

 [g Similarly, the feminine singular occurs before several feminines singular, e.g. Gn 31 וַתַּ֫עַן רָחֵל וְלֵאָה then answered Rachel and Leah; before a feminine singular and a feminine plural, e.g. Gn 24; before a feminine singular and a masculine singular, Nu 12 וַתְּדַבֵּר מִרְיָם וְאַֽהֲרוֹן then spake Miriam and Aaron; Ju 5; before a feminine singular and a masculine plural, e.g. Gn 33 (cf., on the other hand, ψ 75 נְמֹגִים אֶ֫רֶץ וְכָל־יֽשְׁבֶ֫יהָ dissolved are the earth and all the inhabitants thereof). The plural feminine occurs before a plural feminine and a plural masculine in Am 8.—In Jer 44 for אַתֶּם וּנְשֵׁיכֶם read אַתֶּם הַנָּשִׁים with the LXX, and cf. verse 19.

 [h (c) When other predicates follow after the subjects have been mentioned, they are necessarily put in the plural; cf. Gn 21, 24, 31, 33, &c., and § 145 s.

  1. Similarly with a mixed object, Gn 33 he put... Leah and her children אַֽחֲרֹנִים after; אַֽחֲרֹנִים agrees with the masculine immediately preceding.