BDB2087 H1931 H1992 H2007
BDB2086 | BIBLICAL HEBREW | BDB2088
הוּא masculine הִיא feminine (plural masculine הֵ֫מָּה, הֵם; feminine הֵ֫נָּה, הֵן [the latter only with prefixes]; see these words), pronoun of the 3rd person singular, he, she, used also (in both genders) for the neuter it, Latin is, ea, id. (The א is not orthographic merely, but radical, being written on Moabite and Phoenician inscriptions, though dropped in some of the later dialects. [In Hebrew only Jer 29:23 Kt, and in the proper name אֱלִיהוּ.] Moabite (MI6; 27) and Phoenician (often) הא; Aramaic of Zinjirli הא, once הו (DHMInschr. von Sendschirli 55); ᵑ7 הוּא, הִיא Syriac , ; Arabic , (for h¥°a, h£°a, WSG 104); Ethiopic we°§t¥, ye°§t£; perhaps also Assyrian šû, šî, himself, herself suffix šu, ši; compare demonstrative šuatu, šiati (see KraeBAS. i. 383 & references, WSG 98, 105 Dl§ 55b, 57). In the Pentateuch, הוא is of common gender, the feminine form הִיא occurring only 11 times, namely Gen 14:2; Gen 20:5; Gen 38:25 (see Masora here), Lev 11:39; Lev 13:10; Lev 13:21; Lev 16:31; Lev 20:17; Lev 21:9; Num 5:13; Num 5:14. The punctuators, however, sought to assimilate the usage of the Pentateuch to that of the rest of the OT, and accordingly wherever הוא was construed as a feminine pointed it הִוא (as a Qr perpetuum). Outside the Pentateuch the same Qr occurs 1Kgs 17:15; Isa 30:33; Job 31:11a — probably for the sake of removing gramm. anomalies: five instances of the converse change, namely of היא to be read as הוּא, occur for a similar reason, 1Kgs 17:15 (וַתּאֹכַל הוּאוָֿהִיא to be read as וַתּאֹכַל הִיאוָֿהוּא, on account of the feminine verb) Ps 73:16; Job 31:11b (כי הוא זמה והיא עָוֺן פלילים to be read as כי היא זמה והוא עון פלילים), Eccl 5:8; 1Chr 29:16. The origin of the peculiarity in the Pentateuch is uncertain. It can hardly be a real archaism : for the fact that arab., Aramaic, & Ethiopic have distinct forms for masculine & feminine shews that both must have formed part of the original Semitic stock, and consequently of Hebrew as well, from its earliest existence as an independent language. Nor is the peculiarity confined to the Pentateuch: in the Manuscript of the Later Prophets, of A.D. , now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile by Strack (1876), the feminine occurs written הוא (see the passages cited in the Adnotationes Criticae, p. 026). In Phoenician both masculine and feminine are alike written הא (CIS i. 1Chr 1:9 מלך צדק הא, 1Chr 1:13 מלאכת הא, 1Chr 3:10 אדם הא, 1Chr 1:11 ממלכת הא, 1Chr 93:2; 1Chr 94:2), though naturally this would be read as hu° or hi° as occasion required. Hence, as ᵐ5 shews that in the older Hebrew MSS. the scriptio plena was not yet generally introduced, it is probably that originally הא was written for both genders in Hebrew likewise, and that the epicene הוא in the Pentateuch originated at a comparatively late epoch in the transmission of the text — perhaps in connection with the assumption, which is partly borne out by facts (compare DeZKWL 1880, pp. 393-399), that in the older language feminine forms were more sparingly used than subsequently.)
In usage הוּא (feminine הִיא; plural הֵ֫מָּה, הֵם, ׃ הֵ֫נָּה see הֵ֫מָּה) is
1. an emphatic he (she, it, they), sometimes equivalent to himself (herself, itself, themselves), or (especially with the article) that (those):
a. Gen 3:15 הוא ישׁופך ראשׁ he (
ᵐ5 αὐτὸς) shall bruise thee as to the head (opposed to the following
אתה thou), v
Gen 3:20 for
she (and no one else) was the mother of all living (so often in causal sentences, where some emphasis on the subject is desirable as
Judg 14:3;
Ps 24:2;
Ps 25:15;
Ps 33:9;
Ps 91:3;
Ps 103:14;
Ps 148:5;
Job 5:18;
Job 11:11;
Job 28:24;
Jer 5:5;
Jer 34:7b
Hos 6:1;
Hos 11:10 :
Dr1Sam 14:18),
1Sam 4:20 Adah bare Jabal
הוא היה אבי ישׁב אהלים he (
ἐκεῖνος) was the father of tent-dwellers, v
1Sam 4:21;
1Sam 10:8 he began to be a mighty one in the earth,
1Sam 20:5 (
αὐτός),
Judg 13:5;
Isa 32:7;
Isa 33:22;
2Kgs 14:7;
2Kgs 14:22;
2Kgs 14:25;
Hos 10:2 he — the unseen observer of their thoughts and deeds (
Che),
Hos 13:15 b (
he, the foe figured by the east wind). (For its use thus in circumstantial clauses see
Dr§ 157, 160, 168, 169.) And where the predicate is a substantive or participle,
Gen 2:11 הוּא הַסֹּבֵב ֗֗֗ that is the one which encompasseth etc., v
Gen 2:13 v
Gen 2:14;
Gen 10:12 that is the great city. So in the explanatory notices,
Gen 14:3 הוּא יָם הַמֶּלַת that is the salt sea, v
Gen 14:8 הוּאצֹֿעַר that is Zoar,
Gen 36:1 + often
b. pointing back to the subj. and contrasting it with something else :
Gen 4:4 הבל גסהֿוא Abel,
he also ... v
Gen 4:26;
Gen 10:21;
Gen 20:5 וְהִיאגַֿםהִֿוא and she,
herself also said,
Exod 1:10 + often
c. appended alone to a
verb (more rarely, but always with intentional emphasis),
Exod 4:14 I know
כי דבר ידבר הוא that
he can speak, v
Exod 4:16;
1Sam 22:18 ויפגע הוא בכהנים and
he (though none else would do it) smote the priests,
1Sam 23:22 for one hath told me,
עָרֹם יַעְרִם הוּא He can deal subtilly,
Ezek 12:12 (peculiarly), compare
Dr§ 160 n.: very rarely indeed to a noun
Num 18:23 הַלֵּוִי הוּא Isa 7:14 הוא ׳י,
Esth 9:1 (
הֵמָּה) being probably all the examples in the OT.
d. Gen 13:1 and Abram came up out of Egypt,
הוּא וְאִשְׁתּוֺ himself and his wife, and all that he had,
Gen 14:15 הוּא וַעֲבָדָיו he and his servants,
Gen 19:30 so very often
e. prefixed to a noun (very rare, and mostly late),
Exod 12:42b
Ezek 3:8 &
Ezek 33:8 הוּא רָשָׁע : to proper names
Exod 6:27 הוא משׁה ואהרן,
1Chr 26:26 that Shelomoth,
1Chr 27:6;
2Chr 28:22;
2Chr 32:12 (different from
2Kgs 18:22), v
2Kgs 18:30;
2Kgs 33:23;
Ezra 7:6: compare
הֵם Neh 10:38 (compare in Syriac
,
Nö§ 227): compare
Ps 87:5;
1Sam 20:29.
2. It resumes the subject with emphasis:
a. when the predicate is a
verb (especially if it be separated from its subject by an intervening clause),
Gen 15:4 but one that shall come forth out of thine own bowels,
הוּא יִירָשֶׁ֑ךָ he shall be thy heir,
Gen 3:12 the woman whom thou gavest to be with me,
הוא נתנה לי she gave to me,
Gen 24:7;
Gen 44:17 etc.
Judg 7:4;
2Sam 14:19 (throwing stress on
יוֺאָב)
1Chr 11:20;
Isa 33:15-16;
Isa 34:16;
Isa 38:19;
Isa 47:10;
Isa 59:16;
Isa 63:5;
Hos 7:8 often in Proverbs, as
Hos 10:18;
Hos 10:22;
Hos 10:24;
Hos 11:28;
Hos 13:13;
Hos 19:21;
Hos 22:9;
Hos 24:12;
1Sam 1:13 (see
Dr),
Ps 68:36.
b. when the predicate is a
noun,
Gen 2:14 and the fourth river,
הוּא פְרָת it was the Euphrates, v
Gen 2:19;
Gen 9:18;
Gen 15:2;
Gen 42:6 הַשַּׁלִּיט וְיוֺסֵף הוּא and Joseph,
he was the ruler etc.: in sentences of the type
הוּא הָאֱלֹהִים ׳י,
הוּא הַנִּלְחָם ׳י לָכֶם,
הוּא נַחֲלָתְךָ ׳י,
Deut 3:22;
Deut 4:35;
Deut 7:9;
Deut 10:9;
Josh 13:14;
Josh 13:33;
Isa 9:14;
Isa 33:6;
(in these cases, to avoid stiffness, it is convenient often to drop the pronoun in translating, as 'And the fourth river
was the Euphrates:' the pronoun, however, though it then corresponds to the substantive verb in English, does not really
express it, the copula, as the examples shew, being in fact understood. Sts. in
AV the pronoun is retained for emphasis, as Deuteronomy
ll. cc.) So
c. after
אֲשֶׁר in an
affirmative sentence,
Gen 9:3 all creeping things
אֲשֶׁר הוּאחַֿי which are living,
Lev 11:39;
Num 9:13;
Num 14:8;
Num 35:31 אֲשֶׁר הוּא רָשָׁע לָמוּת who is guilty of death,
Deut 20:20;
1Sam 10:19;
Hag 1:9 and elsewhere (On
2, compare
Dr§ 199, with
Obs.)
3. Where, however, the pron.
follows the predicate, its position gives it the minimum of emphasis, and it expresses (or resumes) the subject as unobtrusively as possible: thus
a. Gen 12:18 why didst thou not tell me
כי אשׁתך הוא that she was thy wife ?
Gen 20:13;
Gen 21:13 כי זרעך הוא for he is thy seed,
Gen 31:20 because he told him not
כִּי בֹרֵחַ הוּא,
Gen 37:3 + often (the opposite order rare and emphatic:
Gen 24:65;
Deut 4:6;
Deut 30:20;
Josh 10:2;
1Kgs 2:22;
1Kgs 3:4;
1Kgs 21:2;
Hos 2:4;
Ps 45:12).
b. resuming the subject,
Gen 31:16 all the wealth which God hath taken etc.,
לנו הוא ולבנינו it is ours and our children's, v
Gen 31:43 and all that thou seest,
לי הוא it is mine (or, omitting the pronoun, as not required in our idiom, simply)
is mine,
Gen 41:26 חלום פרעה אחד הוא the dream of Pharaoh
is one,
Gen 48:5 (
לי הם),
Exod 3:5 for the place where on thou standest,
אַדְמַת קֹדֶשׁ הוּא it is holy ground,
Num 13:32;
Num 21:26;
Deut 1:17;
Josh 5:15;
Josh 6:19;
Job 3:19 + often;
Gen 23:15 ארץ ֗֗֗ מַההִֿוא, so
Ps 39:5;
Isa 41:22 (
הֵנָּה);
הֵמָּה ....
אַתֶּם (unusual)
Zeph 2:12. (In all such cases the predicate is not referred directly to the subject, but, the subject being made a casus pendens, it is resumed by the pronoun, and the predicate thus referred to it indirectly. By this means the sentence is lightened and relieved, especially if the subject consist of many words: in
Gen 31:16 for instance, the direct form of predicate
כִּי לָנוּ וּלְבָנֵינוּ כָּלהָֿעשֶׁר אֲשֶׁר הִצִּיל אֱלֹהִים מֵאָבִינוּ would have been heavy and inelegant.) So
c. after
אֲשֶׁר in a
negative sentence,
Gen 7:2;
Gen 17:12 אֲשֶׁר לאֹ מִזַּרְעֲךָ הוּא which is not of thy seed,
Num 17:5;
Deut 17:5;
1Kgs 8:41 (compare
הֵמָּה 3 c).
d. peculiarly, as the subject of
לֹא,
Jer 5:12 לוֺא הוּא He is not; and as embracing its predicate in itself,
Isa 18:2;
Isa 18:7 a nation terrible
מִןהֿוּא (=
מַאֲשֶׁר הוּא) from (the time that)
it was,
Nah 2:9 מִימֵי הִיא from the days that (
stative construct Ges«GKC:130»§ 130. 4) as
it was,
2Kgs 7:7 they left the camp
כַּאֲשֶׁר הִיא as
it was (compare
כַּאֲשֶׁר הֵמָּה v
2Kgs 7:10). (On
3, compare
Dr§ 198, with
Obs.)
4. It
anticipates (as it seems) the subject namely
a. (rare)
Song 6:9 אַהַת הִיא יוֺנָתִי תַמָּתִי one is
she, my dove my perfect one,
Lev 25:11;
Ezek 11:15;
Ezek 21:16;
Lam 1:18 ׳צַדִּיק הוּא י (often so in Late Hebrew); EC
Lam 6:10 וְנוֺדָע אֲשֶׁר הוּא אָדָם and that which he, even man, is, is known (
De Now); compare
1Sam 6:19 מִקְרֶה הוּא הָיָה לָנוּ an accident is
it, (that) hath befallen us. (compare
הֵמָּה 4 a.)
b. after pronouns — (
α)
2Sam 7:28 אַתָּה הוּא הָאֱלֹהִים Thou art
he — God,
Ps 44:5 אתה הוא מלבי thou art
he — my king,
Isa 37:16;
Isa 43:25 (
אנכי),
Isa 51:9;
Isa 51:10;
Isa 51:12;
Isa 52:6;
Jer 14:22;
Jer 29:23 Kt +; compare
Jer 49:12 וְאַתָּה הוּא נָקֹה תִנָּקֶה and art thou he (that) shall be unpunished ? (with change of person
κατά σύνεσιν, compare
Judg 13:11;
1Chr 21:17;
Ezek 38:17.) So
Ew§ 297 b Müll§ 499. But others, as GesThes Roo§ 563 DeIsa 37:16;
Ps 44. 5, treat
הוא as emphasizing the pronoun, 'Thou, he, art God' i.e. Thou and none else art God; '
Thou (emphatic) art my king.'. (
β)
מִי הוּא, followed by a participle or substantive
Gen 27:33;
Ps 24:10 מִי הוּא זֶה מֶלֶךְ הַכָּבוֺד who is he, then — the king of glory ? (according to others, as before, '
Who (emphatic), then, is the king of glory ?'); followed by a verb
Isa 50:9 מִי הוּא יַרְשִׁיעֵנִי who is he (that) will condemn me ? (others '
Who (emphatic) will condemn me ?')
Job 4:7;
Job 13:19;
Job 17:3;
Job 41:2;
Jer 30:21 (so with
הֵנָּה Gen 21:29,
הֵמָּה Zech 1:9;
Zech 4:5). (
γ)
זֶההֿוּא 1Chr 22:1 EC
1Chr 1:17 (frequently in Late Hebrew, where the two words coalesce into one
זֶהוּ) . On the analogous
אֵלֶּה הֵם ֗֗֗ ), see
הֵמָּה 4 b (
γ). (compare
Dr§ 200, 201)
5. As an emphatic predicate, of God, 'I am He,' i.e. I am He Who
is (opposed to unreal gods, named in context, or to transitory world), the Unseen, yet Omni-present, and Self-consistent, Ruler of the world,
Deut 32:39 אֲנִי אֲנִי הוּא I, I am
he, and beside me there is no God,
Isa 41:4 (see
Che)
Isa 43:10;
Isa 43:13 even from to-day I am
he,
Isa 46:4;
Isa 48:12;
Ps 102:28 (see
Che) thou art
he, and thy years have no end (
ᵐ5 usually
ἐγώ εἰμι : in Psalms
σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ). So also, according to many,
Job 3:19, but is
הוא a mere predicate of identity ? see rather
3b. 6. In a neuter sense,
that, it (of an action, occurrence, matter, etc.) —
a. Josh 2:21 כְּדִבְרֵיכֶם כֶּןהֿוּא according to your words, so be
it;
Gen 42:14 הוא אשׁר דברתי that is what I said,
Exod 16:23;
Lev 10:3;
2Kgs 9:36;
Job 8:19 הן הוא משׂושׂ דרכו lo
that (what has just been described) is the joy of his way,
Job 13:16;
Job 15:9;
Job 31:28;
Prov 7:23;
Eccl 2:1;
Eccl 3:22;
Eccl 9:9;
Esth 9:1b; similarly the feminine
הִיא,
Judg 14:4 they knew not
היא ׳כי מי that
it was from
׳י,
Num 14:41;
Josh 10:13;
Isa 14:24;
Ps 77:10 חַלּוֺתִי הִיא it (this perplexity) is my sickness,
Job 9:22;
Prov 18:13;
Jer 22:16;
2Chr 25:20;
Eccl 3:13 reference to
זאת Amos 7:6;
Ps 118:23;
Job 5:27,
זִּה Eccl 2:24. (Where there is a predicate, the gender of this usually regulates the choice of
m. or
f.: hence
הִוא Gen 34:14;
Exod 8:15;
Num 15:25 (
Eccl 5:5)
Deut 4:6 +.)
b. affirming the presence or existence of something (rare) :
2Kgs 18:36 =
Isa 36:21 כִּי מִצְוַת הַמֶּלֶךְ הִיא for
it was the king's command, saying etc.,
1Sam 20:33 (text dubious),
Jer 50:15;
Jer 50:25;
Jer 51:6;
Jer 51:11;
Mic 2:3, perhaps
Job 32:8. p. 241.
7. With the art.
הַהוּא,
הַהִיא,
הָהֵ֫מָּה,
הָהֵם,
הָהֵ֫נָּה: so regularly when joined to a substantive defined itself by the article:
Gen 2:12 הָאָרֶץ הַהִוא that land,
Gen 19:35 ובלילה ההוא and in
that night,
Gen 21:22 בָּעֵת הַהִוא at
that time,
Deut 1:19 המדבר הגדול והנורא ההוא. Only four times does there occur the anomalous construction
בַּלַּיְלָה הוּא Gen 19:33;
Gen 30:16;
Gen 32:23;
1Sam 19:10.
BDB2207 H2007
BDB2206 | BIBLICAL HEBREW | BDB2208
II. הֵ֫נָּה pronoun 3 plural feminine they: see הֵ֫מָּה.
הֲנָחָה see below נוח