is a substantival participle (a lurker, a coucher). In Gn 47 יִֽהְיֶה remains undefined in gender (masc.), although the noun precedes for the sake of emphasis; so also in Gn 28, Ex 12, 28, 32, Nu 9, 15, Jer 50, Ec 2 (הָיָה לִי as if the sentence began afresh, and servants born in my house... there fell to my lot this possession also). In Jb 20 לֹֽא־נֻפַּח may (unless אֵשׁ is regarded as masculine, § 122 o) be taken impersonally, fire, without its being blown upon.—In Is 16 and Hb 3 the predicate in the singular is explained from the collective character of שְׁדֵמוֹת (see h above); on the other hand, the masculine form of the predicate is abnormal in ψ 87, Pr 2, 12, 29, Jb 8, 36.
[a] 1. When the subject is composed of a nomen regens (in the construct state) with a following genitive, the predicate sometimes agrees in gender and number not with the nomen regens, but with the genitive, when this represents the principal idea of the compound subject.[1] Thus 1 S 2 קֶ֫שֶׁת גִּבֹּרִים הַתִּים the bow of the mighty men is broken, as if it were the mighty men with their bow are broken; Ex 26, Lv 13, 1 K 1 (but the text is clearly very corrupt), 17:16, Is 2, 21, Zc 8, Jb 15, 21, 29, 32 (רֹב שָׁנִים equivalent to many years); 38:21; with the predicate preceding, 2 S 10, unless it is to be explained according to § 145 k.
[b] Rem. 1. The cases in which קוֹל (voice, sound) with a following genitive stands at the beginning of a sentence, apparently in this construction, are really of a different kind. The קוֹל is there to be taken as an exclamation, and the supposed predicate as in apposition to the genitive, e.g. Gn 4 the voice of thy brother’s blood, which crieth (prop. as one crying)...!=hark! thy brother’s blood is crying, &c.; Is 13, 66. In Is 52 an independent verbal-clause follows the exclamation the voice of thy watchmen!; in Jer 10 and Ct 2 an independent noun-clause; in Is 40 קוֹל קֹרֵא the voice of one that crieth! i.e. hark! there is one crying is followed immediately by direct speech; in Mi 6 קוֹל hark! may be used disconnectedly (cf. the almost adverbial use of קוֹל in § 144 m) and יְהֹוָה be taken as the subject to יִקְרָא.
[c] 2. When the substantive כֹּל (כָּל־) entirety is used in connexion with a genitive as subject of the sentence, the predicate usually agrees in gender and number with the genitive, since כֹּל is equivalent in sense to an attribute (whole, all) of the genitive; hence, e.g. with the predicate preceding, Gn 5 וַיִּֽהְיוּ כָּל־יְמֵי אָדָם and all the days of Adam were, &c. (in 5:23, 9:29, וַיְהִי; but the Samaritan reads ויהיו here also); Ex 15; with the predicate following, ψ 150, &c. Exceptions are, e.g. Lv 17 (but cf. § 145 l), Jos 8, Is 64, Pr 16, Na 3. On the other hand, in such cases as Ex 12 the agreement of the
- ↑ Sometimes, however, the attraction of the predicate to the genitive may be merely due to juxtaposition.
