An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

9.7 Determination and Periphrasis
a The subject of determination (definiteness/indefiniteness) will be treated in detail
in Chapter 13, but one aspect of it must be mentioned here. In Hebrew the
definiteness of a noun and that of its modifiers are in agreement. With attributive
and demonstrative adjectives this is shown by using the article on both substantive
and adjective: םוֹיּה ַ ינִ ִמ ְשּׁ הַ
‘eighth day,’ הזֶּ ה ַ םוֹיּהַ ‘this day.’ In a construct
chain, the construct can never be[Page 157] prefixed with the article. The
definiteness of the genitive specifies the definiteness of the phrase. 39 If the
genitive is indefinite, the phrase is indefinite.
1.
ה ָמ חָ ְל ִמ שׁיאִ a soldier (lit., a man of war[fare])
ֶ ֑ ָ֫
ְ
2. רקשׁ־ר ַבדּ Josh 17:1
a lie (lit., a word of falsehood)
Prov 29:12
If the genitive is definite, the phrase is definite; the genitive may be definite
because it bears the article or a suffix or because it is a name. 40
֫ ַ ֵ
ִ֫ ָ ֵ֫
3.
ךְ ֶל ֶמּ ה ינ ְבּ sons of the king (or, the sons of the king or roughly,
the king’s sons)
2 Sam 9:11
4. ךָיבא־ת ֶשׁ א wife of your father (or roughly, your father’s wife)
5.
6.
Lev 18:8
ןימָ ִ ינְ ִבּ ת ַע ְב ִגּ Gibeah in Benjamin
1 Sam 13:2
לאֵ רָ ְשִׂי יהלֹ ֵ אֱ
God of Israel (or roughly, the God of Israel)
1 Kgs 8:15
The ambiguity of English ‘the son of the king’ could also theoretically obtain
for the comparable Hebrew phrase: is the referent unique or one among others? If
the referent is non-unique (i.e., if the king has other sons) and this must be made
clear, English uses a phrase like ‘a son of the king.’ Hebrew cannot use a
construct with a definite article in such circumstances but rather resorts to a
periphrastic genitive with lamed (for the construction in verbless clauses, see
8.4.2).
7. י ַשִׁי ְל ן ֵבּ יתי ִ א֫ ִ רָ
I have seen a son of Jesse.
39 The situation in verse is more complicated.
40 On the required definiteness of the epexegetical genitive in Arabic, a difficult
passage in Phoenician, and related matters, see M. O’Connor, “The Grammar of
Getting Blessed in Tyrian-Sidonian Phoenician,” Rivista di Studi Fenici 5 (1977) 5–
11, at 6–11.