Bible Lexicons

הוּא masculineהִיא feminine (plural masculine הֵ֫מָּה, הֵם; feminine הֵ֫נָּה, הֵן [the latter only with prefixes]; see these words),

pronoun of the 3rd person singular, Hebrews , she, used also (in both Genders) for the neuter it, Latin Isaiah , 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 Jeremiah 29:23 Kt, and in the proper name אֱלִיהוּ.] Moabite (MI^{6; 27}) and Phoenician (often) הא; Aramaic of Zinjirli הא, once הו (DHM ^{Inschr. von Sendschirli 55}); ᵑ7הוּא, הִיא Syriac , ; Arabic , (for h¥°a, h£°a, W ^{SG 104}); Ethiopic we°§t¥, ye°§t£; perhaps also Assyrian šû, šî, himself, herself suffix šu, ši; compare demonstrative šuatu, šiati (see Krae ^{BAS. i. 383 & references}, W ^{SG 98,105} Dl^{§ 55b, 57}). In the Pentateuch, הוא is of common Gender, the feminine form הִיא occurring only 11times, namely Genesis 14:2; Genesis 20:5; Genesis 38:25 (see Masora here), Leviticus 11:39; Leviticus 13:10,21; Leviticus 16:31; Leviticus 20:17; Leviticus 21:9; Numbers 5:13,14. 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 1 Kings 17:15; Isaiah 30:33; Job 31:11 a — 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, 1 Kings 17:15 (וַתּאֹכַל הוּאוָֿהִיא to be read as וַתּאֹכַל הִיאוָֿהוּא, on account of the feminine verb) Psalm 73:16; Job 31:11 b (כי הוא זמה והיא עָוֺןפלילים to be read as כי היא זמה והוא עון פלילים), Ecclesiastes 5:8; 1 Chronicles 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. 1 Chronicles 1:9 מלך צדק הא, 1 Chronicles 1:13 מלאכת הא, 1 Chronicles 3:10 אדם הא, 1 Chronicles 1:11 ממלכת הא, 1 Chronicles 93:2; 1 Chronicles 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 De ^{ZKWL 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. Genesis 3:15 הוא ישׁופך ראשׁ he (ᵐ5 αὐτὸς) shall bruise thee as to the head (opposed to the following אתה thou), Genesis 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 Judges 14:3; Psalm 24:2; Psalm 25:15; Psalm 33:9; Psalm 91:3; Psalm 103:14; Psalm 148:5; Job 5:18; Job 11:11; Job 28:24; Jeremiah 5:5; Jeremiah 34:7b Hosea 6:1; Hosea 11:10 : Dr ^{1 Samuel 14:18}), 1 Samuel 4:20 Adah bare Jabal הוא היה אבי ישׁב אהלים he (ἐκεῖνος) was the father of tent-dwellers, 1 Samuel 4:21; 1 Samuel 10:8 he began to be a mighty one in the earth, 1 Samuel 20:5 (αὐτός), Judges 13:5; Isaiah 32:7; Isaiah 33:22; 2 Kings 14:7,22,25; Hosea 10:2 he — the unseen observer of their thoughts and deeds (Che), Hosea 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, Genesis 2:11 הוּא הַסֹּבֵב ֗֗֗ that is the one which encompasseth etc., Genesis 2:13; Genesis 2:14; Genesis 10:12 that is the great city. So in the explanatory notices, Genesis 14:3 הוּא יָם הַמֶּלַת that is the salt sea, Genesis 14:8 הוּאצֹֿעַר that is Zoar, Genesis 36:1 #NAME?

b. pointing back to the subj. and contrasting it with something else : Genesis 4:4 הבל גסהֿוא Abel, he also ... Genesis 4:26; Genesis 10:21; Genesis 20:5 וְהִיאגַֿםהִֿוא and she, herself also said, Exodus 1:10 #NAME?

c. appended alone to a verb (more rarely, but always with intentional emphasis), Exodus 4:14 I know כי דבר ידבר הוא that he can speak, Exodus 4:16; 1 Samuel 22:18 ויפגע הוא בכהנים and he (though none else would do it) smote the priests, 1 Samuel 23:22 for one hath told me, עָרֹם יַעְרִם הוּא He can deal subtilly, Ezekiel 12:12 (peculiarly), compare Dr^{§ 160n.}: very rarely indeed to a noun Numbers 18:23 הַלֵּוִי הוּא Isaiah 7:14 הוא׳י, Esther 9:1 (הֵמָּה) being probably all the examples in the OT.

d. Genesis 13:1 and Abram came up out of Egypt, הוּא וְאִשְׁתּוֺ himself and his wife, and all that he had, Genesis 14:15 הוּא וַעֲבָדָיו he and his servants, Genesis 19:30; so very often

e. prefixed to a noun (very rare, and mostly late), Exodus 12:42 b Ezekiel 3:8 & Ezekiel 33:8 הוּא רָשָׁע : to proper names Exodus 6:27 הוא משׁה ואהרן, 1 Chronicles 26:26 that Shelomoth, 1 Chronicles 27:6; 2 Chronicles 28:22; 32:12 (different from 2 Kings 18:22), 2 Kings 18:30; 2 Kings 33:23; Ezra 7:6: compare הֵם Nehemiah 10:38 (compare in Syriac , Nö^{§ 227}): compare Psalm 87:5; 1 Samuel 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), Genesis 15:4 but one that shall come forth out of thine own bowels, הוּא יִירָשֶׁ֑ךָ he shall be thy heir, Genesis 3:12 the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, הוא נתנה לי she gave to me, Genesis 24:7; Genesis 44:17 etc. Judges 7:4; 2 Samuel 14:19 (throwing stress on יוֺאָב) 1 Chronicles 11:20; Isaiah 33:15-16; Isaiah 34:16; Isaiah 38:19; Isaiah 47:10; Isaiah 59:16; Isaiah 63:5; Hosea 7:8; often in Proverbs , as Hosea 10:18; Hosea 10:22; Hosea 10:24; Hosea 11:28; Hosea 13:13; Hosea 19:21; Hosea 22:9; Hosea 24:12; 1 Samuel 1:13 (see Dr), Psalm 68:36.

b. when the predicate is a noun, Genesis 2:14 and the fourth river, הוּא פְרָת it was the Euphrates, Genesis 2:19; Genesis 9:18; Genesis 15:2; Genesis 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 נַחֲלָ˜תְךָ׳י, Deuteronomy 3:22; Deuteronomy 4:35; Deuteronomy 7:9; Deuteronomy 10:9; Joshua 13:14,33; Isaiah 9:14; Isaiah 33:6; Hosea 11:5 (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, Genesis 9:3 all creeping things אֲשֶׁר הוּאחַֿי which are living, Leviticus 11:39; Numbers 9:13; Numbers 14:8; Numbers 35:31 אֲשֶׁרהוּא רָשָׁע לָמוּת who is guilty of death, Deuteronomy 20:20; 1 Samuel 10:19; Haggai 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. Genesis 12:18 why didst thou not tell me כי אשׁתךהוא that she was thy wife ? Genesis 20:13; Genesis 21:13 כי זרעךהוא for he is thy seed, Genesis 31:20 because he told him not כִּי בֹרֵחַ הוּא, Genesis 37:3 + often (the opposite order rare and emphatic: Genesis 24:65; Deuteronomy 4:6; Deuteronomy 30:20; Joshua 10:2; 1 Kings 2:22; 1 Kings 3:4; 1 Kings 21:2; Hosea 2:4; Psalm 45:12).

b. resuming the subject, Genesis 31:16 all the wealth which God hath taken etc., לנו הוא ולבנינו it is ours and our children's, Genesis 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, Genesis 41:26 חלום פרעה אחדהוא the dream of Pharaoh is one, Genesis 48:5 (לי הם), Exodus 3:5 for the place where on thou standest, אַדְמַת קֹדֶשׁ הוּא it is holy ground, Numbers 13:32; Numbers 21:26; Deuteronomy 1:17; Joshua 5:15; Joshua 6:19; Job 3:19 + often; Genesis 23:15 ארץ ֗֗֗ מַההִֿוא, so Psalm 39:5; Isaiah 41:22 (הֵנָּה); הֵמָּה .... אַתֶּם (unusual) Zephaniah 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 Genesis 31:16 for instance, the direct form of predicate כִּי לָנוּוּלְבָנֵינוּ כָּלהָֿעשֶׁר אֲשֶׁר הִצִּיל אֱלֹהִים מֵאָבִינוּ would have been heavy and inelegant.) So

c. after אֲשֶׁר in a negative sentence, Genesis 7:2; Genesis 17:12 אֲשֶׁר לאֹמִזַּרְעֲךָ הוּא which is not of thy seed, Numbers 17:5; Deuteronomy 17:5; 1 Kings 8:41 (compareהֵמָּה 3 c).

d. peculiarly, as the subject of לֹא, Jeremiah 5:12 לוֺא הוּא He is not; and as embracing its predicate in itself, Isaiah 18:2,7 a nation terrible מִןהֿוּא (= מַאֲשֶׁר הוּא) from (the time that) it was, Nahum 2:9 מִימֵי הִיא from the days that ( stative construct Ges^{§ 130}. 4) as it was, 2 Kings 7:7 they left the camp כַּאֲשֶׁר הִיא as it was (compare כַּאֲשֶׁר הֵמָּה 2 Kings 7:10). (On

3, compare Dr^{§ 198}, with Obs.)

4 It anticipates (as it seems) the subject namely

a. (rare) Song of Solomon 6:9 אַהַת הִיא יוֺנָתִי תַמָּתִי one is she, my dove my perfect one, Leviticus 25:11; Ezekiel 11:15; Ezekiel 21:16; Lamentations 1:18 ׳צַדִּיק הוּא י (often so in Late Hebrew); EC Lamentations 6:10 וְנוֺדָעאֲשֶׁר הוּא אָדָם and that which Hebrews , even Prayer of Manasseh , Isaiah , is known (De Now); compare 1 Samuel 6:19 מִקְרֶה הוּא הָיָהלָנוּ an accident is it, (that) hath befallen us. (compare הֵמָּה 4a.)

b. after pronouns — (α) 2 Samuel 7:28 אַתָּה הוּא הָאֱלֹהִים Thou art he — God, Psalm 44:5 אתההוא מלבי thou art he — my king, Isaiah 37:16; Isaiah 43:25 (אנכי), Isaiah 51:9,10,12; Isaiah 52:6; Jeremiah 14:22; Jeremiah 29:23 Kt +; compare Jeremiah 49:12 וְאַתָּה הוּא נָקֹה תִנָּקֶה and art thou he (that) shall be unpunished ? (with change of person κατά σύνεσιν, compare Judges 13:11; 1 Chronicles 21:17; Ezekiel 38:17.) So Ew^{§ 297 b} Müll^{§ 499. But others, as} Ges ^Thes Roo^{§ 563} De ^{Isaiah 37:16}; Psalm 44.. 5, treat הוא as emphasizing the pronoun, 'Thou, Hebrews , art God' i.e. Thou and none else art God; ' Thou (emphatic) art my king.'. (β) מִי הוּא, followed by a participle or substantive Genesis 27:33; Psalm 24:10 מִי הוּא זֶה מֶלֶךְ הַכָּבוֺד who is Hebrews , then — the king of glory ? (according to others, as before, ' Who (emphatic), then, is the king of glory ?'); followed by a verb Isaiah 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; Jeremiah 30:21 (so with הֵנָּה Genesis 21:29, הֵמָּה Zechariah 1:9; Zechariah 4:5). (γ) זֶההֿוּא 1 Chronicles 22:1 Ecclesiastes 1Chronicles 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 Hebrews ,' 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, Deuteronomy 32:39 אֲנִי אֲנִי הוּא I, I am he, and beside me there is no God, Isaiah 41:4 (see Che) Isaiah 43:10,13even from to-day I am he, Isaiah 46:4; Isaiah 48:12; Psalm 102:28 (see Che) thou art he, and thy years have no end (ᵐ5 usually ἐγώ εἰμι : in Psalm 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. Joshua 2:21 כְּדִבְרֵיכֶםכֶּןהֿוּא according to your words, so be it; Genesis 42:14 הוא אשׁר דברתי that is what I said, Exodus 16:23; Leviticus 10:3; 2 Kings 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; Proverbs 7:23; Ecclesiastes 2:1; Ecclesiastes 3:22; Ecclesiastes 9:9; Esther 9:1 b; similarly the feminine הִיא, Judges 14:4 they knew not היא׳כי מי that it was from ׳י, Numbers 14:41; Joshua 10:13; Isaiah 14:24; Psalm 77:10 חַלּוֺתִי הִיא it (this perplexity) is my sickness, Job 9:22; Proverbs 18:13; Jeremiah 22:16; 2 Chronicles 25:20; Ecclesiastes 3:13; reference to זאת Amos 7:6; Psalm 118:23; Job 5:27, זִּה Ecclesiastes 2:24. (Where there is a predicate, the Gender of this usually regulates the choice of m. or f.: hence הִוא Genesis 34:14; Exodus 8:15; Numbers 15:25 ( Ecclesiastes 5:5) Deuteronomy 4:6 +.)

b. affirming the presence or existence of something (rare) : 2 Kings 18:36 = Isaiah 36:21 כִּי מִצְוַתהַמֶּלֶךְ הִיא for it was the king's command, saying etc., 1 Samuel 20:33 (text dubious), Jeremiah 50:15,25; Jeremiah 51:6,11; Micah 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: Genesis 2:12 הָאָרֶץ הַהִוא that land, Genesis 19:35 ובלילה ההוא and in that night, Genesis 21:22 בָּעֵתהַהִוא at that time, Deuteronomy 1:19 המדבר הגדול והנוראההוא. Only four times does there occur the anomalous construction בַּלַּיְלָה הוּא Genesis 19:33; Genesis 30:16; Genesis 32:23; 1 Samuel 19:10.