the people; Nu 10 כָּל־הָֽעֵדָה all the congregation (cf. 1 K 8); 1 K 1, Is 9, 25, Am 1 עַם; 1 S 17, Ezr 10 קָהָל assembly. Cf. also the construction of national names, as אֲרָם (§ 122 i), e.g. 1 K 20 וַיָּנֻ֫סוּ אֲרָם and the Syrians fled; 1 S 4.—(β) with the predicate following, 1 K 8 צֹאן וּבָקָר sheep and oxen, construed with the plural in the following relative clause; Jb 1 הַבָּקָר הָיוּ חֹֽרְשׁוֹת the cattle (cows) were ploughing; 2 S 3 and 1 Ch 10 בַּ֫יִת=family (in 1 S 6 בֵּית שֶׁ֫מֶשׁ on the analogy of names of countries, is used for the inhabitants of Bethshemesh); Ho 11, Ezr 4 עַם; ψ 68 חַיָּה herd [if correct, figuratively for people]; Is 26 נְבֵלָה dead bodies; Is 27 קָצִיר boughs; 1 S 4 יִשְׂרָאֵל, preceded by a predicate in the singular.
[d] (b) Of substantives occasionally used as collectives: (α) with the predicate preceding, Gn 34 זָכָר; Ju 9, 15 אִישׁ; Is 16 רֹמֵס the treader down.—(β) with the predicate following, Jb 8 אַחֵר=others; Ez 28 סָתוּם a secret; [ψ 9, and even after זֶה Jb 19.]
[e] (c) Of feminines as collective terms denoting masculine persons: (α) with the predicate preceding, 1 S 17 וְיֵדְעוּ כָּל־הָאָרֶץ that all the earth may know, the i.e. all the inhabitants of the earth; cf. Dt 9, ψ 66, 96, 9, &c.; Am 1 שְׁאֵרִית remnant; (ψ 33 כָּל־הָאָ֫רֶץ).—(β) with the predicate following, Gn 41, 2 S 15, 1 K 10, Gn 48 מוֹלֶ֫דֶת issue; 1 S 2 כָּל־מַרְבִּית all the increase; Jb 30 פִּרְחָח rabble. In Hag 2 read חֲמֻדֹת with the LXX.
[f] Examples of predicates in the singular, notwithstanding the collective meaning of the subject, occur in Gn 35, Ex 10, 14, Dt 1, &c.—For examples of bold enallage of the number in noun-clauses with a substantival predicate, see above, § 141 c.
[g] Rem. Not infrequently the construction begins in the singular (especially when the predicate precedes; see o below), but is carried on, after the collective subject has been mentioned, in the plural; e.g. Ex 1 מְאֹד וַיִּ֫רֶב הָעָם וַיַּֽעַצְמוּ and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty; 33:4.
[h] 3. On the other hand, plurals which have a singular meaning (§ 124 a) are frequently construed with the singular, especially the pluralis excellentiae or maiestatis (§ g–i; on the union of these plurals with attributes, cf. § 132 h), as אֱלֹהִים Gn 1, 3, &c. (but see the Rem.), אֲדֹנִים master, Ex 21 בְּעָלִים master, owner, Ex 21; cf., moreover, פָּנִים with the singular, Jb 16 Keth., רַֽחֲמִים Pr 12.—So feminine forms with a masculine meaning are construed with a masculine predicate, e.g. Ec 12 הָיָה קֹהֶ֫לֶת חָכָם the preacher was wise.
[i] Rem. The construction of אֱלֹהִים God with the plural of the predicate may be explained (apart of course from such passages as 1 K 19, 20, where the speakers are heathen, and אֱלֹהִים may, therefore, be a numerical plural) partly as an acquiescence in a polytheistic form of expression, partly from the peculiar usage of one of the early documents of the Hexateuch, called E by Wellhausen, &c., B by Dillmann; cf. his commentary on Numbers—Joshua, p. 618, and above, § 124 g, note 2. So Gn 20 (but in conversation with a heathen); 31:53, 35:7, cf. also Jos 24. That this construction was afterwards studiously avoided from fear of misconception, is shown by such passages as Neh 9 compared with Ex 32, 8, and 1 Ch 17 compared with 2 S 7. Cf. Strack’s excursus on Gen 20 in Die Genesis, Munich, 1905, p. 77.
