Bible Lexicons

Besides the plural endings treated in §87a–i, the language employs other means to express a plurality of living beings or things:

(a) Certain words employed exclusively in a collective sense, while the individual members of the class are denoted by special words (nomina unitatis, but not in the same sense as in §122t). Thus בָּקָר‎ cattle, oxen^[1] (even joined with numerals, e.g. Exodus 21:37 חֲמִשָּׁה בָקָר‎ five head of cattle), but שׁוֹר‎ an ox; צֹאן‎ small cattle, i.e. sheep and goats (μῆλα), cf. Job 1:3 שִׁבְעַת אַלְפֵי־צֹאן‎ seven thousand sheep; but שֶׂה‎ a single head of small cattle (a sheep or a goat). Other more or less common collectives are: זִיז‎ (prop. that which prowls or roams) wild beasts, טַף‎ (perhaps prop. tripping) a number of little children; דֶּ֫שֶׁא‎ fresh green herb, i.e. young plants, יֶ֫רֶק‎ green, i.e. vegetation in general; עוֹף‎ birds, fowl; רֶ֫כֶב‎ chariots or cavalcade, רִמָּה‎ worms, רֶ֫מֶשׂ‎ creeping things (of small creatures), שֶׁ֫רֶץ‎ swarming things.

(b) The collective use of substantives which at the same time serve as nomina unitatis; thus, אָדָם‎ (never in plur.) means both man (homo) and men (homines); אִישׁ‎ a man (vir) and men (viri); אִשָּׁה‎ woman and women (Judges 21:16, 1 Samuel 21:6); אַרְבֶּה‎ a locust, but usually a swarm of locusts; נֶ֫פֶשׁ‎ soul and souls (persons); מַקֵּל‎ staff and staves (Genesis 30:37); עַ֫יִט‎ a bird of prey and birds of prey; עָלֶה‎ a leaf and foliage; עֵ֫שֶׂב‎ a plant and plants, herbs; עֵץ‎ a tree and trees (as it were foliage); פְּרִי‎ fruit and fruits; שִׂיחַ‎ a shrub and shrubs; in isolated instances also nouns like עֶ֫בֶד‎ man-servant, שִׁפְחָה‎ maid-servant, חֲמוֹר‎ ass, שׁוֹר‎ ox (cf. Genesis 32:6).—On the singular (especially of gentilic names) with the article (which may, however, be omitted in poetry, cf. e.g. Psalms 12:2 חָסִיד‎, Proverbs 11:14 יוֹעֵץ‎) to include all individuals of the same species, cf. §126l. On the special meaning of the plurals formed from certain collectives, see §124l.

(c) The feminine ending; see §122s.

(d) The repetition of single words, and even of whole groups of words, especially to express entirety, or in a distributive sense. The following cases are more particularly to be noticed:

1. The repetition of one or more words to express the idea of every, all, as יוֹם יוֹם‎ Genesis 39:10, &c., day by day, every day; שָׁנָה שָׁנָה‎ year by year, Deuteronomy 14:22; אִישׁ אִישׁ‎ every man, Exodus 36:4; with בְּ‎ before each, as בַּבֹּ֫קֶר בַּבֹּ֫קֶר‎ Exodus 16:21 every morning (and similarly before a group of words, Leviticus 24:8), for which the distributive לְ‎ is also used, לַבֹּ֫קֶר לַבֹּ֫קֶר‎ 1 Chronicles 9:27, and with one plural לַבְּקָרִים‎ Psalms 73:14, לִבְקָרִים‎ Job 7:18 parallel with לִרְגָעִים‎ every moment. Somewhat different are the instances with בְּ‎ before the second word only, e.g. יוֹם בְּיוֹם‎ day by day, 1 Chronicles 12:22; שָׁנָה בְשָׁנָה‎ year by year, Deuteronomy 15:20, 1 Samuel 1:7 (but in verse 3 מִיָּמִים יָמִ֫ימָה‎), כְּפַ֫עַם בְּפַ֫עַם‎ Numbers 24:1, Judges 16:20, Judges 20:30 f., 1 Samuel 3:10 as at other times. Also With the two words united by means of wāw copulative, אִישׁ וְאִישׁ‎ Psalms 87:5, or אִישׁ וָאִישׁ‎ Esther 1:8; דּוֹר וָדוֹר‎ all generations, Deuteronomy 32:7; יוֹם וָיוֹם‎ Esther 3:4; cf. Esther 8:9, Ezra 10:14, 1 Chronicles 26:13 and often (cf. Cheyne, Bampton Lectures, 1889, p. 479, according to whom the use of the ו‎ copulative with the second word is especially common in Ch and Est, and therefore belongs to the later language; Driver, Introd.⁶, p. 538, No. 35); sometimes (but with the exception of Psalms 45:18 only in very late passages) with a pleonastic כָּל־‎ preceding, Psalms 145:13, Esther 2:11, Esther 9:28, 2 Chronicles 11:12, &c.

2. Repetition of words in an expressly distributive sense^[2] (which may to some extent be noticed in the examples under c) equivalent to one each, &c., e.g. Numbers 14:34 forty days יוֹם לַשָּׁנָה יוֹם לַשָּׁנָה‎ counting for every day a year; cf. Ezekiel 24:6, Exodus 28:34 (three words repeated); also with the addition of לְבַד‎ apart, עֵדֶר עֵדֶר לְבַדּוֹ‎ every drove by itself, Genesis 32:17; cf. Zechariah 12:12. Most frequently with the addition of a numeral (for the simple repetition of numerals for the same purpose, cf. §134q), and with the words not only in groups of two (Leviticus 24:8, Numbers 13:2, Numbers 31:4) or three (Numbers 7:11, Numbers 17:21), but even of six (Exodus 26:3) or seven (Exodus 25:33, Exodus 26:19, 21, 25); in Exodus 25:35 five words even three times repeated.^[3]

3. Repetition to express an exceptional or at least superfine quality; e.g. 2 Kings 25:15 which were of gold, gold, of silver, silver, i.e. made of pure gold and pure silver; Deuteronomy 2:27 בַּדֶּ֫רֶךְ בַּדֶּ֫רֶךְ‎ only along by the high way; cf. Numbers 3:8, Numbers 8:16 they are given, given to him, i.e. given exclusively for his service, for his very own. Also with a certain hyperbole in such examples as 2 Kings 3:16 גֵּבִים גֵּבִים‎ nothing but trenches; Genesis 14:10 בֶּֽאֱרֹת בֶּֽאֱרֹת חֵמָר‎ all asphalt-pits.—Repetition serves to intensify the expression to the highest degree in Judges 5:22 by reason of the violent pransings of his string ones, Exodus 8:10 (countless heaps), and Joel 4:14 (countless multitudes); cf. also מְעַט מְעַט‎ Exodus 23:30 by little and little, very gradually; cf. §133k.

4. Repetition with the copula to express of more than one kind; thus Deuteronomy 25:13 (Proverbs 20:10) אֶ֫בֶן וָאֶ֫בֶן‎ a weight and a weight, i.e. two kinds of weight (hence the addition great and small); Psalms 12:3 בְּלֵב וָלֵב‎ with two kinds of heart, i.e. with a double-dealing heart; cf. the opposite בְּלֹא לֵב וָלֵב‎ 1 Chronicles 12:33.