וּבְבָֽתֵּי כְלָאִים and in prison houses, Is 42; cf. Ex 34, &c., שְׁנֵיֽ־לֻחֹת אֲבָנִים two tables of stone (but Ex 31 לֻחֹת אֶ֫בֶן); Nu 13, Dt 1, Jos 5, 6, 2 K 14, 25, Is 51, Jer 41, Ezr 3, &c. עַמֵּי הָֽאֲרָצוֹת the people of the country; 2 Ch 26; so perhaps בְּנֵי אֵלִים sons of God, ψ 29, 89 (according to others sons of gods); or finally even
[r] (c) By using the plural of the nomen rectum;[1] e.g. בֵּית אָבוֹת Ex 6, Nu 1, 4 ff., &c., as plur. of בֵּית אָב father’s house, family; בֵּית הַבָּמוֹת the houses of the high places, 2 K 17 (also בָּֽתֵּי הַבָּמוֹת 23:19); בֵּית עֲצַבֵּיהֶם the houses of their idols, 1 S 31, Ez 46; cf. also Ju 7 the head of Oreb and Zeeb, i.e. the heads, &c.
[s] Rem. When a substantive (in a distributive sense) with a suffix refers back to a plural, the singular form of the substantive suffices, since the idea of plurality is already adequately expressed by the suffix, e.g. פִּימוֹ os (for ora) eorum, ψ 17; יְמִינָם their right hand, ψ 144 [so in the English RV.], for hands.
[a] 1. A noun may either be determinate in itself, as a proper name or pronoun (see below, d and i), or be made so by its context. In the latter case, the determination may be effected either by prefixing the article (see § 126), or by the connexion of the noun (in the construct state) with a following determinate genitive, and consequently also (according to § 33 c) by its union with a pronominal suffix (§ 127 a). It is to be taken as a fundamental rule, that the determination can only be effected in one of the ways here mentioned; the article cannot be prefixed to a proper name, nor to a noun followed by the genitive, nor can a proper name be used in the construct state. Deviations from this rule are either only apparent or have arisen from a corruption of the text.
[b] Rem. Only in a few passages is a noun made expressly indeterminate by the addition of אֶחָד in the sense of our indefinite article; cf. Ex 16, Ju 9, 13, 1 S 1, 7, 12, 1 K 13, 19, 20, 22, 2 K 4, 8, 12, Ez 8, Dn 8, 10 (in 8:13 אֶחָד קָרוֹשׁ i.e. one, viz. a holy one, is opposed to another).
[c] It is further to be noticed, that in Hebrew the phenomenon sometimes occurs, which the Arab grammarians call indeterminateness for the sake of amplification; e.g. Is 31 and he shall flee מִפְּנֵי־חֶ֫רֶב from a sword, i.e. from an irresistible sword (God’s sword); cf. Is 28 בְּיָד; 2 S 6 שֵׁם; Ho 3 אִשָּׁה such a woman, without doubt to be referred to the Gomer mentioned in cap. 1;
- ↑ Cf. Brockelmann, Grundriss, i. 482.
