Notes on the text of the book of Genesis : with an appendix online

1 8. TtD''pm . nnn O^pn and nnn jn:, 9, 1 2 are marks of P.

19. ^TlTl only punctuated so in this passage; cf. Is. 17, 8
and the note on ver. 4.



8o



n^p^'l "I^T, characteristic of P.

20. in^^^n^. See on i, 12. ^^1 and ^^1 belong to the
language of P.

21. nCDt^l ... "^7 Tip; cf. on ver. 14. n^3S» is another
characteristic of P.



22. niTI^ ]3 is rare outside P.



7.

1. "JD'^^ 7^1. Cf. the fuller description of Noah's family
in P, 6, 18. 7, 13. 8, 16. 18.

2. n^^\2} m^!2tl\ ^ Seven by seven', i.e. ^ by sevens;' see
Ges., § 134. 5; M.R., § 72. 2; Ewald, § 313 a; Dav., 6'., § 29.
R. 8 ; cf. Zech. 4, 2. Num. 3, 47. 17, 17 ntOD nton 'r^^, rod,'
' a rod each ;' 2 Kings 17, 29 ''13 ''13 * nation, nation^, i. e. ' ^z^^ry

single 7iati07l :^ cf. also Mark 6, 39 avfinoaia avixnoo-ia] 40

npaaial TTpaaiai. The repetition of a noun indicates that the
action expressed in the sentence is performed on different
individuals of the class denoted by the noun ; thus the repe-
tition serves to express the disiribidive relation. Some think
that seven individuals of each kind were to be selected, the
seventh possibly being intended for sacrifice (Del.). But the
addition of IJlK'XI K^''N seems to indicate that ' seven pairs '
were intended. In the case of the unclean animals we have
n^JC^ once, i. e. ' one pair^ and we may reasonably presume
that had the narrator intended seven individual animals here,
we should have had r\'^iv) once. This also suits ver. 9 better
(the animals went in D''^::' D^Jf.:' by twos). nyaK' nj?n5^ in the
next verse is to be taken in the same way.

^^in . ♦ ♦ i^b "^tlJSI; cf. 17, 12. I Kings 9, 20 etc. On



CHAP. 6, VER. 20 CHAP. 7, VER. 7. 81

the pers. pronoun after iO HK'X, see Driver, § 198. Obs. i ;
Ges., § 138. r ; Dav., S., § 9. R. 2.

4. nvnt!) 1^:^; n^D"'^ ^D. '/^^^r a//er yet seven days!
For this use of the preposition 7, cf. 2 Sam. 13, 23 TT'')

D^c'' D^n:B^i>; Ex. 8, 19 nrn nisn .TiT -snxh-, M. R., § 51. 2.

D1'' â–¡'^^^^^5. Certain nouns are used after the numerals
in the sing. ; cf. Ges., § 134. 2 and R. i ; M. R., § 97 ; Dav.,

s., § 37. R. I.

TI'Trai. P uses nni^ or n^Hf n ; cf 6, 13. 17.

DlpTf 70. DipM, which always has the •• without a
dagesh, is a subst. formed from the analogy of the imper-
fect. See, however, Barth., N.B., p. 181, who denies this,
and explains Dlp^ from an original D1''iP by transposition.
Render, ^ Every existing thing!

6. n2l!} mi^^ U?t2} *p. The adj. is expressed by joining
to a subst., denoting a reference or relationship, a genitive
expressing the attribute or thing; cf. Ges., § 128. 2. Rem.
2 c; M. R., § 79. 6 d; Dav., S., § 24. R. 3.

D''Q 7VT\ vm?2m . ' When the flood was^ waters' etc.
D"'D, as the text stands, is an explanatory apposition to hlOn ;
cf. however, the note on 6, 17. iTn = ' (zra'^z'/,' 'came;'
LXX, (yevero, but Swete reads rjv. The second half of the
verse is a circ. clause; see Ewald, § 341 d; Driver, § 169:
cf. 19, 4. 24, 45 and Ges., § 164. i a. The R.V. keeps the
old rendering, ' the flood of waters', which is a paraphrase
adopted for the sake of English idiom.

7. V^m TVl ^^'^. 'â– Ajid Noah came in and his sons,' etc.
When the predicate precedes a compound subj., it frequently
stands in the sing.; Ges., § 146. 2 b; M. R., § 138; Dav., 6\,
§ 114 b.

G



82 GENESIS,



1 1. "i:n ^^rh . . . n'lt'^'D W n^m, nt. 'm theyear of six
hundred years to the life of N.' i. e. * in the six hundredth year
of N.'s life' The cardinals, for numbers beyond ten, are
used for the ordinals; cf. Ges., § 134. 4; M. R., § 100 a;
Ewald, § 287 k ; Dav., S., § 38 b.

Hi ^'^T\7. The genitive is often expressed thus by 7,
when a writer wishes to avoid a string of construct states,
or — as here — when any word intervenes between the con-
struct state and the genitive. Cf. Ges., § 129. id; M. R.,
§ 83; Dav., ^, § 28. R. 5.

r^l2'>h^1 = lit. 'the latticed windows^, from nij< 'to inter-
twined The LXX have o\ KaTapd D\S3n 'those who came to Egypt;' 10, 8

19. "Ih^!D l^^?^ (cf. 17, 2. 6. 20) is repeated to imply
intensity; cf. Ges., § 133. 3. Rem. 3 ; M. R., § 72. i. ^^^0
nND is peculiar to P ; so 17 I.e., Num. 14, 7.

20. T\yy^ n"^tri> trtl^n. n^N is ace. of measure, answer-
ing to the question ' how far ?' Ges., § 118. 2 c; M. R.,
§ 41 c; Dav., S., § 69 c.

21. n^n^^l f)*)i?!l. 1 is used to specify the whole
according to its contents (a construction characteristic of P) ;
cf. M. R., § 52. i; cf. 8, 17. 9, 10. 17, 23. Ex. 12, 19.
Render, ^ And all flesh died . . . consisting of fowl' etc.

22. nn"^n, with firm -y- under n, the noun being of the
form n^r.

23. n^'^l. The better-attested reading has no dag. in
the D ; so the form would be apoc. impf. Qal from nnro (see
Ges., § 75. Rem. 3a), and would mean 'He {God), or it
{the flood) blotted out' the first rendering being the best. The
reading with dag. in the rD would be imperf apoc. Nif.,
for which we should rather expect n^*1 with -7-, but cf.
Ewald, § 224 c, and Ps. 109, 13. 14: the ace. might stand
after a passive, as in 4, 18; but a passive would hardly be
expected with in^*1 following in the same verse. The accent
on the penult, points to the imperf Qal : in the imperf. Nif.
it could not be drawn back, as the penult, would be a closed
syllable.

1P^^ 111)^^1. nt^'iN:^' a qui' contains in itself the demons,
pronoun, Ges., § 138. 2 ; cf. M. R., § 158; Dav., S., § 10. ,

G 2



84 GENESIS,



8.

3. y\Xd^ Tl^n . « . D'^nn 1n1lt}^1. The inf. abs.-j^^n is
added to SIK' to emphasize the continuance of the abating of
the waters, just as in vers. 5. 7 ; 12, 9 : cf. Ges., § 1 13. 3. R. 2 ;
Ewald, § 280 b ; M. R., § 37 b ; Dav., S., § 86. c and R. 4.

4. HDm is impf. Qal with waw conv. from Hi:, like "^0*1
from -HID, iri from "^IT, V^Jl from m : cf. Ges., § 72. Rem. 4 ;
Stade, § 484 d.

lOllh^ nn hv = 'on (ofze of) the mountains of A! The
plural as in Judg. 12, 7 : see Ges., § 124. i. R. 2 ; Dav., ^S*.,
§ 17. R. 3. LD"ll^< is in the O. T., 2 Kings 19, 37 = Is. 37, 38
and Jer. 51, 27 (together with ''JD and T23:i^^