An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

8. הרוֹה ָ טְּ ה ַ ה ָמ הֵ ְבּה־ן ַ ִמ
וּא ָ֫בּ םִינ ַ֫
ְשׁ םִינ ַ֫
ְשׁ . . .
Gen 7:2
From the clean animals…pair by pair they came.
Gen 7:8–9
c Related to these numerical distributives are universal distributive expressions,
meaning ‘all who’ or ‘each.’ One group of these expressions involves a plural referent
(often a participle) with a singular predicate.
10.
9.
ת ָמוּי תוֹמ הי ָ ֶל֫ ְלחַ ְמ Anyone who desecrates/all who desecrate/each who
desecrates it (the Sabbath) shall be put to death.
Exod 31:14
׃ר ָשּׁ אֻ ְמ הי ָ ֶכ֫ ְמֹתּ Any who seizes it (i.e., wisdom) is blessed.
Prov 3:18
Another group of such expressions uses לֹכּ before an indefinite singular. (Before
a definite singular kōl often signifies an aggregate or totality.)
11.
םוֹי־ל ָכבּ ְ every day
12.
׃אוֹבּ ִמ תִיבּ־ל ַ֫ ָכּ ר ַגּ ֻ
Ps 7:12
ס Every house is barred from entering (i.e., The entrance
of each house is barred).
Isa 24:10
[Page 290] 16 Personal Pronouns
16.1 Pronouns in General
16.2 Personal Pronouns
16.3 Independent Personal Pronouns
3.1 Uses
3.2 Finite Verbal Clauses
3.3 Verbless Clauses
3.4 Apposition
3.5 Minor Uses
16.4 Suffixed Personal Pronouns
16.1 Pronouns in General
a Pronouns are words that can stand for (Latin pro) a noun (nomen) or noun phrase; the
major groups of pronouns are personal, demonstrative, interrogative, indefinite, and
relative. A variety of expressions can perform the noun role in a clause, including
nouns (e.g., ‘a boy’), noun phrases (‘a boy and a girl’), and clauses (‘you know who’),
as well as pronouns (see 4.4.1). Grammarians usually limit the word class of pronouns
to the groups mentioned. This is in part due to the tradition of the “parts of speech” as
first recognized by the Alexandrian grammarians. 1
1 R. H. Robins, Ancient and Mediaeval Grammatical Theory in Europe (London: Bell,
1951) 39–40, 66; Robins, A Short History of Linguistics (Bloomington: Indiana
University, 1967) 33–34, cf. 26, 28; John Lyons, Introduction to Theoretical
Linguistics (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1968)12.