[i] 3. The oblique cases of the personal pronouns expressed by means of a preposition (or the nots accus. את) with a suffix may be used either in a demonstrative or reflexive sense,[1] as לוֹ to him, but also to himself, e.g. Ju 3 and Ehud made לוֹ for himself a sword, cf. Gn 33; so also לָהֶם sibi, Is 3; אֵלָיו unto him, and Gn 8 unto himself; אִתּוֹ with him, and Gn 22 with himself; עִמָּהּ with her, and 1 S 1 with herself; also apparently as a pleonastic dativus ethicus (see § 119 s), Jb 12, 13.
[k] Rarely, and only when marked emphasis is intended, is the accusative of the reflexive pronoun represented by the nota accusativi את with a suffix (this being ordinarily expressed by the reflexive conjugations Niphʿal and Hithpaʿēl[2]); thus, אֹתָם se ipsos, Ex 5, Jer 7 in sharp antithesis to הַֽאֹתִי; Ez 34, 8, 10. Cf. § 57 at the end, together with note 2.
[l] Rem. There is a similar emphasis in Is 49 on בְּשָׂרָם and דָּמָם in the sense of their own flesh, their own blood. On the sometimes demonstrative, sometimes reflexive meaning of noun-suffixes of the 3rd person singular and plural, cf. § 91, p and q. For other circumlocutions to express the idea of self, see § 139 f.
[m] 4. The possessive pronouns are, according to § 33 c, expressed by the suffixes of the noun (in the genitive),[3] which may represent either a subjective genitive, or (like the genitives proper, § 128 h) an objective genitive, e.g. חֲמָסִי the wrong done against me, Gn 16, Jer 51; cf. Gn 9, 18, 27 (2 S 16 Keth.); Gn 30, 39 (cf. Ex 3, &c.); 50:4, Ex 20, 21, Ju 4, 13 (מַֽעֲשֵׂ֫הוּ the treatment of him); Is 56, Jer 9, Na 3, Pr 1, 24, Jb 20, 23, 34. Cf. also such pregnant expressions as ψ 20 יִשְׁלַח עֶזְרְךָ he will send thy help (help for thee), i.e. he will send thee help; Gn 30, 39, Ex 2, Is 1 (and I will restore judges for thee); Ez 37.
When several substantives are co-ordinated, the pronominal suffix must be attached to each singly, e.g. Gn 36 and Esau took אֶת־נָשָׁיו וְאֶת־בָּנָיו וְאֶת־ בְּנֹתָיו his wives and his sons and his daughters, &c.; 38:18, &c. In 2 S 23 the text is hardly correct.
- ↑ As in Luther’s Bible jm (ihm), jr (ihr) for sich, and in our version him, her for himself, herself.
- ↑ Niphʿal according to § 51 e (like Hithpaʿēl according to § 54 f) may also include the dative of the reflexive pronoun.
- ↑ Like the substantival genitive, according to § 129 h, the possessive pronoun may also be paraphrased by a relative clause, e.g. Ru 2 הַנְּעָרִים אֲשֶׁר לִי the young men, which are to me, i.e. my young men; so especially, when the substantive, which should take a genitive suffix, is already followed by a genitive, e.g. 1 S 17. In this case, however, the suffix also is sometimes attached pleonastically, e.g. Ct 1 כַּרְמִי שֶׁלִּי my vineyard, which belongs to me. Cf. Ct 3, and the analogous pleonasms in 2 S 22 (but see ψ 18) and ψ 27.
