An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

The article as relative marker must be considered in relation to the participle, to other
constructions, and to ambiguous forms. Hebraists sometimes analyze the article with
the participle as having a relative force or as investing the participle with this value.
For example, Ronald J. Williams lists as one of the uses of the article its use as
“equivalent to a relative pronoun…with participles,” 27 while A. B. Davidson
somewhat more accurately said: “When in apposition with a preceding definite
subject the participle with[Page 339] article has the meaning very much of a relative
clause…This usage is very common.” 28 But even this analysis is not cogent because
the participle, as a verbal adjective, by itself can serve as a relative clause, ‘one
who…, that which….’ Thus a participle can form a subordinate clause even without
the article.
1. ןוֹפ ָצּה־ן ַ ִמ האָ ָבּ הרָ ָעס ְ a storm which was coming from the north
Ezek 1:4
Thus it is misleading to consider the article as a dependent relative marker with a
participle. 29
c The article with a perfective verb, however, does serve as a relative marker; this
usage is found chiefly in the later books of the Bible, notably Ezra and Chronicles. 30
2. ה ָמ חָ ְל ִמּ ה ַ י ֵשׁ נְ א ַ יני ֵ ִצ ְק
וֹתּא ִ אוּכלְ הָ ה ֶ
3. וּניר֫ ֵ ָע ֶבּ ר ֶשׁ א ֲ לֹכוְ תוֹיּרִ ְכ ָנ םי ִשׁ נ ָ בי ִשֹׁהה ַ
4.
לאוּמ ֵ ְשׁ שׁידִּ ְק הִ ה ַ לֹכ ְ
the army commanders who had come with him 31
Josh 10:24
everyone in our towns who has married a foreign
woman
Ezra 10:14
ו and everything which Samuel had dedicated
1 Chr 26:28
27
See the brief treatment in R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax: An Outline (2d ed.;
Toronto: University of Toronto, 1976) 19.
28
A. B. Davidson, Hebrew Syntax (3d ed; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1901) 132–33,
abbreviations expanded.
29
With Joüon §145e / pp. 448–49.
30
The construal of h with a preposition in 1 Sam 9:24, though apparently intended by
the Masoretes, is dubious; see P. Kyle McCarter, I Samuel (Anchor Bible 8; Garden
City, New York: Doubleday, 1980) 170, for a conservative solution to the difficult
witnesses.
31
The ˒ in hhlkw˒ may be a dittograph (note the following ˒) or an example of a double
mater lectionis type of writing, found frequently at Qumran; for other biblical
examples, see GKC §23i / p. 81. On the writing, see M. O’Connor, “Writing Systems,
Native Speaker Analyses, and the Earliest Stages of Northwest Semitic Orthography,”
The Word of the Lord Shall Go Forth: Essays in Honor of David Noel Freedman, ed.
C. L. Meyers and M. O’Connor (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1983) 439–65,
at 450–51.