was so fully established, that it could be used not only in such strange cases, as Gn 37 לֹא יָכְֽלוּ דַבְּרוֹ לְשָׁלֹם they could not speak to him peaceably, cf. Zc 3 לְשִׂטְנוֹ to be an adversary to him, but ultimately even in the 1st sing., as in Nu 22 לְתִתִּי to give me leave [Dt 25 לֹא אָבָה יַבְּמִי he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother unto me; 1 Ch 4 לְבִלְתִּי עָצְבִּי that it may not grieve me!]
[d] 3. The power of governing like a verb is also retained in those verbal nouns which, although originally secondary forms of the infinitive, have fully acquired the value of nouns, e.g. Is 11 דֵּעָה אֶת־יְהֹוָה (prop. to know the Lord) the knowledge of the Lord; לְיִרְאָה אֹתִי to fear me, Dt 4, 5, 10; an accusative follows לְאַֽהֲבָה Dt 10, 15, Is 56 (cf. also 1 K 10, Ho 3); לַֽהֲנָפָה Is 30; בְּשִׂנְאַת יְהֹוָה אֹתָ֫נוּ Dt 1; after verbal nouns formed with the prefix מ (cf. § 45 e), Nu 10, Is 13, Am 4, Ez 17. The accusative of the object likewise remains after infinitives (or their secondary forms) which have the article, e.g. Gn 2, Jer 22, or a suffix, e.g. Gn 5, &c., 28:4, 6, 29:19 f., 30:15, 38:5, 2 S 3, Is 29.
[e] 2. The subject of the action represented by the infinitive is mostly placed immediately[1] after it, either in the genitive or nominative. The subject is in the genitive (§ 33 c) whenever it has the form of a noun-suffix, and also when the infinitive has the termination of the constr. st. fem. sing. (see f); probably also in many other cases, where the infinitive in form and meaning is used more like a substantive, and accordingly governs like a noun. On the other hand, the subject of the infinitive is certainly to be regarded as a nominative, when it is separated from the infinitive by any insertion, and according to certain indications (see g) very probably in ninny other instances.
[f] Rem. 1. Examples of genitives of the subject after infinitives in the connective form are Dt 1 בְּשִׂנְאַת יְהֹוָה אֹתָ֫נוּ prop. in the Lord’s hating us; cf. 7:8, Gn 19, 1 K 10, Is 13, 47, Ho 3, Am 4. The subject of the infinitive is probably also to be regarded as genitive in such cases as Ex 17 and there was no water לִשְׁתֹּת הָעָם for the people to drink (prop. for the drinking of the people), and in cases like Gn 16 (בְּלֶ֫דֶת הָגָר); Gn 16, Ex 19, Nu 20, 4, 33:38, 1 K 6, ψ 133, 2 Ch 7, &c.
[g] 2. Examples in which the subject is separated from the infinitive by an insertion, and hence must certainly be regarded as a nominative, are Jb 34 לְהִסָּ֫תֶר שָׁם פֹּֽעֲלֵי אָ֫וֶן that the workers of iniquity may hide themselves there (prop. for the hiding themselves there the workers of iniquity); cf. Gn 34, Nu 35, Dt 19, Ju 9, 2 S 24, ψ 76, and below, i. The subject is likewise to be regarded as a nominative, whenever the Lamedh is prefixed to the infinitive by means of a pretonic Qameṣ (cf. b above), e.g. 2 S 19 לָשׂוּם הַמֶּ֫לֶךְ אֶל־לְבּוֹ,
- ↑ In Gn 24 the subject of כִּרְאֹת is wanting (but כְּשָׁמְעוֹ follows); the original reading was undoubtedly כִּרְאֹתוֹ, and the text is now in a state of confusion; verse 30a should come before verse 29b. In Gn 19, 25, Ex 9, 13, 1 S 18, Jer 41, ψ 42 the subject, although not indicated, is easily supplied from the context. The infinitive in such cases is best rendered in English by a passive.
