above (so also in Gn 27, 49, not from above). These adverbs of place, however, may become prepositions by the addition of לְ, e.g. מִחוּץ לְ outside as regards ..., i.e. outside of something, in 1 K 21 even after a transitive verb of motion; מִתַּ֫חַת לְ below as regards ..., i.e. under something (cf. עַד־מִתַּ֫חַת לְ until they came under ..., 1 S 7), מֵעַל לְ over something, &c.; לְבַד prop. in separation; לְבַד מִן־ in separation from, i.e. apart from, besides. Only rarely in such a case is the לְ omitted for the sake of brevity, e.g. Jb 26 מִתַּ֫חַת מַיִם beneath the waters; Neh 3 (מֵעַל־).
[d] 2. Real combinations of prepositions (each retaining its full force) occur—
(a) With מִן־, in מֵאַחַר, מֵאַֽחֲרֵי (see above) from behind something; מֵאֵת and מֵעִם from with (see above); מִבֵּין or מִבֵּינוֹת from between something (with motion in either direction, see e.g. Gn 49); מִלִּפְנֵי from before (see above); sometimes also מִמּוּל Lv 5, &c.; מֵעַל־ from upon, i.e. off from; מִתַּ֫חַת away from under (see footnote 2 on p. 377).
[e] (b) With אֶל־, in אֶל־אַֽחֲרֵי to behind, אֶל־בֵּינוֹת to between; אֶל־מִבֵּית לְ forth between 2 K 11; אֶל־מִחוּץ לְ forth without, i.e. out in front of, Nu 5; אֶל־תַּ֫חַת down under.[1]—In Jb 5 the two prepositions of motion are combined in a peculiarly pregnant construction, אֶל־מִצִּנִּים (he goes thither and takes it) out of the thorns, i.e. he taketh it even out of the thorns, but the text is hardly correct.
[f] 3. A general view of the union of certain verbs, or whole classes of verbs, with particular prepositions, especially in explanation of certain idioms and pregnant expressions.[2]
[g] (a) (אֱלֵי) אֶל־[3] towards, properly an expression of motion or at least direction towards something (either in the sense of up to=עַד, or into=אֶל־תּוֹךְ), is used after verbs not only in answer to the question whither? but by a specially pregnant construction, in answer to the question where? e.g. Jer 41 they
- ↑ Also in 1 S 21 אֶל־תַּ֫חַת by a pregnant construction is virtually dependent on the idea of coming into, contained in the preceding אֵין־.
- ↑ A summary of all the relations and senses in which a preposition may be used, belongs not to the Grammar but to the Lexicon.
- ↑ Cf. Mitchell, ‘The proposition el,’ in the Journal of the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, 1888, p. 143 ff., and especially A. Noordtzij, Het hebreeuwsche voorzetsel אל, Leiden, 1896, a thorough examination of its uses, and especially of the relation between אֶל־ and עַל־.
