וּבְבָֽתֵּי כְלָאִים and in prison houses, Is 4222; cf. Ex 341, &c., שְׁנֵיֽ־לֻחֹת אֲבָנִים two tables of stone (but Ex 3118 לֻחֹת אֶ֫בֶן); Nu 1332, Dt 128, Jos 52, 64, 2 K 1414, 2523, Is 519, Jer 4116, Ezr 33, &c. עַמֵּי הָֽאֲרָצוֹת the people of the country; 2 Ch 2614; so perhaps בְּנֵי אֵלִים sons of God, ψ 291, 897 (according to others sons of gods); or finally even
[r] (c) By using the plural of the nomen rectum;[1] e.g. בֵּית אָבוֹת Ex 614, Nu 12, 4 ff., &c., as plur. of בֵּית אָב father’s house, family; בֵּית הַבָּמוֹת the houses of the high places, 2 K 1729 (also בָּֽתֵּי הַבָּמוֹת 23:19); בֵּית עֲצַבֵּיהֶם the houses of their idols, 1 S 319, Ez 4624; cf. also Ju 725 the head of Oreb and Zeeb, i.e. the heads, &c.
[s] Rem. When a substantive (in a distributive sense) with a suffix refers back to a plural, the singular form of the substantive suffices, since the idea of plurality is already adequately expressed by the suffix, e.g. פִּימוֹ os (for ora) eorum, ψ 1710; יְמִינָם their right hand, ψ 1448 [so in the English RV.], for hands.
[a] 1. A noun may either be determinate in itself, as a proper name or pronoun (see below, d and i), or be made so by its context. In the latter case, the determination may be effected either by prefixing the article (see § 126), or by the connexion of the noun (in the construct state) with a following determinate genitive, and consequently also (according to § 33 c) by its union with a pronominal suffix (§ 127 a). It is to be taken as a fundamental rule, that the determination can only be effected in one of the ways here mentioned; the article cannot be prefixed to a proper name, nor to a noun followed by the genitive, nor can a proper name be used in the construct state. Deviations from this rule are either only apparent or have arisen from a corruption of the text.
[b] Rem. Only in a few passages is a noun made expressly indeterminate by the addition of אֶחָד in the sense of our indefinite article; cf. Ex 1633, Ju 953, 132, 1 S 11, 79, 12, 1 K 1311, 194, 2013, 229, 2 K 41, 86, 1210, Ez 88, Dn 83, 105 (in 8:13 אֶחָד קָרוֹשׁ i.e. one, viz. a holy one, is opposed to another).
[c] It is further to be noticed, that in Hebrew the phenomenon sometimes occurs, which the Arab grammarians call indeterminateness for the sake of amplification; e.g. Is 318 and he shall flee מִפְּנֵי־חֶ֫רֶב from a sword, i.e. from an irresistible sword (God’s sword); cf. Is 282 בְּיָד; 2 S 62 שֵׁם; Ho 31 אִשָּׁה such a woman, without doubt to be referred to the Gomer mentioned in cap. 1;
- ↑ Cf. Brockelmann, Grundriss, i. 482.