Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/400

 be regarded as originally a substantive in the sense of amount, kind (instar), standing in the accusative (so that  is equivalent to as a kind of, after the manner of, according to), while the following noun represents a genitive governed by the. From this, which is the proper meaning of the, may be explained its power of representing a great many pregnant relations, which in English can only be rendered by the help of prepositions. Thus the comparison may refer to—

(a) The place, e.g., i.e. as in their pasture; 23:15 as (it is said) in the song of the harlot; 28:21, 29:7.

(b) The time, especially in the combination, equivalent to as in the day, , ; ..., , , , , ; cf. moreover,, , , , , and the expressions as day by day=as in the former days, ; , , &c.; , ; cf. . Of a different character is the use of as a simple particle of time, e.g.   (not about the time), when it lives again, i.e. at the end of a year; ; cf. , and the frequent connexion of with the infinitive construct to express a definite time (in the sense of a pluperfect),, , , &c.

(c) The person, e.g. should he deal with our sister as with a harlot?

(d) The thing, e.g., , , i.e. as it were by fire (cf.   with lye);   for the rain (they waited for me);  (as in a garment); 38:30  to stone (the waters are solidified in freezing).

Rem. According to the earlier grammarians, is sometimes used pleonastically, i.e. not to indicate a similarity (as in  as it were, i.e. something like), but simply to introduce the predicate (Kaph veritatis), e.g.  for he was ; cf. , . Such a pleonasm is of course out of the question. At the most a Kaph veritatis can only be admitted in the sense that the comparison is sometimes introduced by with a certain emphasis (equivalent to in every respect like); thus  in  means simply of the nature of a faithful man, i.e. as only a faithful man can be; cf. ,, , , , , , , , ; also in such passages as  yea, very few; but e.g. in  only just, a very small...