An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

25.
26.
27.
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245]
28.
29.
30.
32.
33.
34.
2 Sam 17:10
בלֶ ֶכּ֫ ה ַ קלָֹי ר ֶשׁ אֲ ַכּ as a dog laps
Judg 7:5
ארֹקּ ֵ ה ַ ףֹדּרִי ְ ר ֶשׁ אֲ ַכּ as one hunts a partridge
1 Sam 26:20
ידִ גְּ ה ַ עסַּ ַשׁ ְכּ as one rends a kid
Judg 14:6
ן ָשׁ ְב ִכּה ַ רֹטי ִק ְכּ like the smoke from a furnace
Gen 19:28
ב ֵערָ ה ָ םלֹחַי ֲ ר ֶשׁ אֲ ַכּ as when someone dreams in a famine
םִימ ֑ ָ֫
ָשּׁ ה ַ ר ֶפסֵּ֫ כ ַ וּלֹּג֫ ָנ ְ
Isa 34:4
The generic article is also used with plurals.
31.
םיבִ ָכוֹכּהַ the stars
םִיוֹגּ ַ
םירִ קָ בְּ ַ
Isa 29:8
ו And the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll.
Gen 15:5; cf. 1:16
ה the nations
Gen 10:32
ל all the mornings
Isa 33:2, Ps 73:14
םיע֑ ִ ָשׁ רְ ה ָ ן ֵכ־אֹ ל Not so the wicked.
Ps 1:4
Both singular and plural gentilics regularly take the article in referring to the
entire group, for example, ינִ ֲענ ַ ְכּה ַ ‘the Canaanite(s),’ םירִ ְב ִעה ָ ‘the Hebrews.’ In
gentilics derived from construct-chain names the second term of the chain takes the
article, for example, ירִ זְ ֶעה ָ י ִב א ֲ ‘the Abiezrite’ (< רזֶ ֶעי ֫ בִ א; ֲ 11 Judg 6:11, 24), תיבֵּ ימִ חְ ַלּה ַ ‘the Bethlehemite’ (< םחֶ ֶל ֫ תיבּ; ֵ 1 Sam 17:58). The group term םיתִּ ְשׁ ִל ְפּ
usually does not take the article; only eight times is ה ַ used and in only eighteen cases
is a preceding preposition given the pointing of the article.
g The generic article is found with items other than animals, for example, materials (##
35–39; note the comparisons in # 38). 12
11 Abiezer is only attested as a personal name, not as a place name; the analysis of the
name as a construct phrase, implicit in the gentilic form, is open to question. The
name may in origin be a sentence name, ‘My (divine) Father is Help’; cf. 8.2.
12 Other examples in Gen 2:11, 11:3; Amos 2:6; 2 Chr 2:13, 14.