(c) Numbers composed of tens and units, e.g. 23, are treated as a single number twenty-and-three; and as they stand in Appos. the unit remains in the Abs. (cases like 2 K. 2:24 are exceptional). The gend. of the unit is, of course, determined by the noun: Jud. 10:2 עֶשְׂרִים וְשָׁלשׁ שָׁנָה 23 years. The order three-and-twenty also occurs — chiefly in later style. It also belongs to later style to separate the elements of the Num., repeating the noun with each, as twenty year and three years, or the reverse order (mainly with the word year).
Jud. 7:3 עֶשְׂרִים וּשְׁנַיִם אֶלֶף 22 thousand (cf. Rem. 1). Nu. 7:88 ע׳ וְאַרְבָּעָה פָּרִים 24 oxen. Nu. 35:6, Jos. 19:30; 21:39, Jud. 10:3; 20:15, 35, 46, 2 K. 10:14, Ez. 11:1, 1 Chr. 2:22; 12:29. — Gen. 11:24, Ex. 38:24, Nu. 3:39, 43; 26:22; 31:38, Jud. 20:21. — Gen. 5:15; 12:4; 23:1; 25:7. Cf. Gen. 5 pass., Gen. 11:13–25. Lev. 12:4, 5 (repet. of days), cf. Num. 31:32 seq. (thousand).
(d) The usage is the same with מֵאָה hundred, מָאתַיִם, מֵאוֹת (all in abs.; cons. מְאַת in later style); and אֶלֶף thousand, אַלְפַּיִם, אֲלָפִים (cons. אַלְפֵי occasional, Ex. 32:28, Job 1:3). 1 K. 18:4 מֵאָה נְבִיאִים 100 prophets. Jud. 15:4 שְׁלֽשׁ־מֵאוֹת שֽׁוּעָלִים 300 foxes. 1 K. 3:4 אֶלֶף עֹלוֹת 1000 burnt-offerings. 2 K. 3:4 מֵאָה אֶלֶף אֵילִים 100,000 rams (Rem. 1). 2 K. 18:23 אַלְפַּיִם סוּסִים 2000 horses. Ex. of hundred: Jud. 7:22, 1 S. 17:7; 18:25; 25:18; 30:21, 2 S. 3:14; 8:4; 14:26; 16:1, 1 K. 7:20; 10:17; 11:3, Jos. 7:21. Ex. of thousand: 1 S. 13:5; 17:5, 1 K. 5:6, Job 42:12.
(e) While, however, the Num. 11 and upward are construed with plur., except with collectives and words of time, weight, and measure, there is a natural tendency in enumerations to regard the thing enumerated as forming a class or genus, and to use the sing.; cf. § 17. Ex. 24:4, Jud. 21:12, 2 S. 8:4; 23:8, 1 K. 5:12; 9:14, 2 K. 24:14. Comp. 1 K.
