[d] 3. The indefinite personal subject (our they, one, the French on, and the German man[1]) is expressed—
(a) By the 3rd person singular masculine, e.g. קָרָא one (sc. any one who named it, see the Rem.) called (or calls) it, Gn 11, 16, 19, Ex 15; וַוִּקְרָא Gn 35, 10, 2 S 2, Is 9; וַיֹּא֫מֶר one said, Gn 48, 1 S 16;[2] other examples are Gn 38 one put out a hand; Nu 23, 1 K 22, Is 6 וְרָפָא לוֹ and one heals them; 8:4 (יִשָּׂא); 46:7 (יִצְעַק); Am 6, Mi 2, Jb 27; by the 3rd singular feminine (יָֽלְדָה) Nu 26.
[e] Rem. The Jewish commentators, following the Arab grammarians, usually explain these singulars by the addition of the participle (generally determinate) of the same stem, e.g. קָרָא הַקֹּרֵא. This view is supported by the fact that such a complement sometimes occurs, e.g. Is 16 יִדְרֹךְ הַדֹּרֵךְ the treader treads out, for one treads out; 28:4, 24 (doth one plow continually?); Dt 17 (Ez 18), Dt 22, 2 S 17 (Ez 33), Jer 9; with an indeterminate participle (as in Arabic, e.g. qāla qāʾilun, a sayer says, i.e. some one says), e.g. Nu 6, Am 9; cf. above, § 116 t, and, on the whole question, Driver on 1 S 16.
[f] (b) Very frequently by the 3rd plural masculine, e.g. Gn 29 for out of that well יַשְׁקוּ they (i.e. people generally) watered the flocks; 26:18, 35:5, 41:14, 49:31, 1 K 1, Is 38, Ho 12, Jb 18, 34, Est 2, Neh 2.
[g] Rem. The 3rd plur. also is sometimes used to express an indefinite subject, where the context does not admit of a human agent or at least not of several, e.g. Gn 34. In such a case the 3rd plur. comes to be equivalent to a passive, as very commonly in Aramaic (see Kautzsch’s Gramm. des Bibl. Aram., § 96. 1 c); e.g. Jb 7 wearisome nights מִנּוּ־לִי have they allotted to me (equivalent to were allotted to me; to make ‘invisible powers’ the subject is a merely artificial device); Jb 4, 6, 18, 19, 34, Ez 32, ψ 63, Pr 2 (in parallelism with a passive); 9:11.
[h] (c) By the 2nd singular masculine, e.g. Is 7 לֹֽא־תָבוֹא שָׁ֫מָּה one will (or can) not come thither (prop. thou wilt...); Jer 23, Pr 19, 30 (unless the reading should be תִּתָּפֵשׂ). Cf. also עַד־בֹּֽאֲךָ or simply בֹּֽאֲךָ (Gn 10, 30, 13:10 בֹּֽאֲבָה) prop. until thy coming, i.e. until one comes.
[i] (d) By the plural of the participle, e.g. Jer 38 and all thy wives and thy children מֽוֹצִאִים (prop. are they bringing out=) they will bring out, &c.; cf. Is 32, Ez 13, Neh 6 (for some are coming to slay thee)
- ↑ In 1 S 9 הָאִישׁ (prop. the man) is used in exactly the same sense as our one.
- ↑ Elsewhere in such cases וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ usually occurs (but not in the perfect, e.g. 1 S 23), so that it is doubtful whether the present reading of Gn 48, &c., would not be better explained according to § 7 d, note. In Gn 48 for the extraordinary וַיַּגֵּד the common form וַיֻּגַּד is to be read; so in 50:26 for וַיִּישֶׂם (after a plural) either וַיּוּשַׂם or the 3rd plur.; in 2 K 21 וַיִּקְבְּרוּ.
