Page:Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1910 Kautzsch-Cowley edition).djvu/431

 &c., and also, , , , &c. Similarly the article is used with terms of measurement, as, &c.:  and  ;  ;.

(c) The expression of abstract ideas of every kind, since they are likewise used to represent whole classes of attributes or states, physical or moral defects, &c.; e.g. ;  and they smote the men... ;, &c.; but in   the article is no doubt due to dittography of the , and the parallel  has no article.

(d) Comparisons, since the object compared is treated not (as usually in English) individually but as a general term, e.g. white, ; red ;  and the heavens shall be rolled together ; cf. ,, as ; , , , , , , , , , ; cf. also such examples as, , where the object compared is determined by a determinate genitive which follows (according to ).

Examples of indeterminate comparisons are rare, and perhaps due only to the Masora,—so at least in the case of singulars, while in such plurals as those in, , , 7, the omission of the article may be explained by the ordinary rules. On the other hand, the article is regularly omitted when the object compared is already defined by means of an attribute (or relative clause,, ), e.g. , (as) a scattered nest (but cf. 10:14 ); 14:19, 29:5  (but  ); , , , .—In comparisons with persons also the Masora seems to avoid the use of the article, as in   and seven other places ( only in ),  ,  ,.

4. Peculiar to Hebrew is the employment of the article to denote a single person or thing (primarily one which is as yet unknown, and therefore not capable of being defined) as being present to the mind under given circumstances. In such cases in English the indefinite article is mostly used.

Thus as if a man did flee from a lion (, i.e. the particular lion pursuing him at the time), and a bear  met him, &c., cf. 3:12, (John 10:12); also  f., 14:13 (, i.e. one that had escaped, the particular one who came just then; so also, ; cf. ); , 11 18:7 the servant, who is regarded as being constantly at hand and awaiting his commands; cf. (but  is used like  above);, unless  means in the well-known cave;  , according to Dillmann, upon the place suitable for passing the night, or the right place, but it may possibly also refer to the sanctuary of Bethel afterwards so sacred and celebrated; , , , , , ,  , ,  (Samaritan  without the article); , , 9, 25:6, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  (? most