An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

25. שׁ ֻבל ְ שׁיאִ ה ָ ה ֵנּהִ וְ
םידִּ בַּ הַ
26.
ע ַשׁ פּ־יוּשׂ ֶ֫
ְ
2 Sam 13:31
the man clothed with linen
Ezek 9:11
נ forgiven in respect of sin
Ps 32:1
d Just as a participle may be followed by an object in the accusative (the participle
being absolute) or by a genitive (the participle being construct), so suffixes to
the[Page 618] participle may be genitive or accusative. 27 The possessive and the
accusative suffixes exhibit different forms only in the first-person singular, -î
possessive, -[ē]nî objective.
27.
ישֹׂע ֑ ָ הּוֹל ַ א ֱ הֵיּ ַ֫
28. ינִ ֵשֹׂע ֫ ןטֶ בֶּ֫ ַב־אֹ
להֲ וּהשׂ֑ ָ֫
ָע
29.
ינִ אֹר ָ֫
ןי ֵ
א Where is God my Maker? 28
Job 35:10
Did not he who made me in the womb make him?
Job 31:15
א There is none who sees me.
Isa 47:10
But even here caution is needed: “In fact, this distinction is erased, inasmuch as
the possessive suffix -ī, according to the analogy of the remaining suffixes, can also
assume an objective meaning.” 29 This leveling is apparent in the following examples
(## 30–32, objective -ēnî expected).
31.
32.
30.
יאִ ֹר ֑֫ ןי ֵע ינִ רוּשׁ ֵ ת־אֹ ְ ל The eye that (now) sees me will see me no longer.
Job 7:8
יאִ ְצֹמ־ל ָכּ all who find me
ימַ ָ
Gen 4:14
ק those that rise up against me 30
27 Note that the MT has môrîš ˒ôtām in Deut 18:12, while the Samaritan has mwryšm,
as does the Qumran Temple Scroll in a synoptic passage. In Qumranic Hebrew,
singular participles can govern either an object or possessive suffix, but plural
participles can govern only possessive suffixes. See E. Qimron, The Hebrew of the
Dead Sea Scrolls (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986) 76.
28 The use of participial titles for God is especially important in the old poetry of the
Pentateuch (e.g., Deut 32:39) and Former Prophets (e.g., 1 Sam 2:6–8) and in some of
the prophets (e.g., Amos 4:13, 5:8–9, 9:5–6; Isa 43:1; 44:2, 24; 44:7, 9, 11, 18) and in
Job (e.g., 5:9, 9:9–10, 25:2).
29 BL §48y’/p. 343.
30 Ordinarily qûm ‘to arise (with hostility against)’ governs an object with ˓al or
another preposition, but in verse the plural participle (‘those who arise against’) takes
a suffix.