H1931. hu

or hi הוּ‎ Jeremiah 29:23 Kt, see הוּא‎.

הוּא‎ masculine הִיא‎ feminine (plural masculine הֵם הֵ֫מָּה,‎; feminine הֵן הֵ֫נָּה,‎ [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 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}); הִיא הוּא, ᵑ7‎ 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 11 times, namely Genesis 14:2; 20:5; 38:25 (see Masora here), Leviticus 11:39; 13:10, 21; 16:31; 20:17; 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 31:11a — 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, 1 Kings 17:15 (הוּאוָֿהִיא וַתּאֹכַל‎ to be read as הִיאוָֿהוּא וַתּאֹכַל‎, on account of the feminine verb) Psalm 73:16; Job 31:11b (פלילים עָוֺן והיא זמה הוא כי‎ to be read as פלילים עון והוא זמה היא כי‎), 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. 1:9 הא צדק מלך‎, 1:13 הא מלאכת‎, 3:10 הא אדם‎, 1:11 הא ממלכת‎, 1Chron 93:2; 1Chron 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 הֵ֫נָּה ׃ הֵם, הֵ֫מָּה,‎ 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 ראשׁ ישׁופך הוא‎ he (ᵐ5‎ αὐτὸς) shall bruise thee as to the head (opposed to the following אתה‎ thou), 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; 25:15; 33:9; 91:3; 103:14; 148:5; Job 5:18; 11:11; 28:24; Jeremiah 5:5; 34:7b Hosea 6:1; 11:10 : Dr^{1 Samuel 14:18}), 4:20 Adah bare Jabal אהלים ישׁב אבי היה הוא‎ he (ἐκεῖνος) was the father of tent-dwellers, 4:21; 10:8 he began to be a mighty one in the earth, 20:5 (αὐτός), Judges 13:5; Isaiah 32:7; 33:22; 2 Kings 14:7, 22, 25; Hosea 10:2 he — the unseen observer of their thoughts and deeds (Che), 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 ֗֗֗ הַסֹּבֵב הוּא‎ that is the one which encompasseth etc., 2:13; 2:14; 10:12 that is the great city. So in the explanatory notices, 14:3 הַמֶּלַת יָם הוּא‎ that is the salt sea, 14:8 הוּאצֹֿעַר‎ that is Zoar, 36:1 +?

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

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

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

e. prefixed to a noun (very rare, and mostly late), Exodus 12:42b Ezekiel 3:8 & 33:8 רָשָׁע הוּא‎ : to proper names Exodus 6:27 ואהרן משׁה הוא‎, 1 Chronicles 26:26 that Shelomoth, 27:6; 2 Chronicles 28:22; 32:12 (different from 2 Kings 18:22), 18:30; 2Ki 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, יִירָשֶׁ֑ךָ הוּא‎ he shall be thy heir, 3:12 the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, לי נתנה הוא‎ she gave to me, 24:7; 44:17 etc. Judges 7:4; 2 Samuel 14:19 (throwing stress on יוֺאָב‎) 1 Chronicles 11:20; Isaiah 33:15-16; 34:16; 38:19; 47:10; 59:16; 63:5; Hosea 7:8; often in Proverbs, as Hosea 10:18; Hosea 10:22; Hosea 10:24; Hosea 11:28; 13:13; Hos 19:21; Hos 22:9; Hos 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, פְרָת הוּא‎ it was the Euphrates, 2:19; 9:18; 15:2; 42:6 הוּא וְיוֺסֵף הַשַּׁלִּיט‎ and Joseph, he was the ruler etc.: in sentences of the type ׳י נַחֲלָתְךָ הוּא לָכֶם, ׳י הַנִּלְחָם הוּא ׳י, הָאֱלֹהִים הוּא‎, Deuteronomy 3:22; 4:35; 7:9; 10:9; Joshua 13:14, 33; Isaiah 9:14; 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 הוּאחַֿי אֲשֶׁר‎ which are living, Leviticus 11:39; Numbers 9:13; 14:8; 35:31 לָמוּת רָשָׁע הוּא אֲשֶׁר‎ 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 הוא אשׁתך כי‎ that she was thy wife ? 20:13; 21:13 הוא זרעך כי‎ for he is thy seed, 31:20 because he told him not הוּא בֹרֵחַ כִּי‎, 37:3 + often (the opposite order rare and emphatic: 24:65; Deuteronomy 4:6; 30:20; Joshua 10:2; 1 Kings 2:22; 3:4; 21:2; Hosea 2:4; Psalm 45:12).

b. resuming the subject, Genesis 31:16 all the wealth which God hath taken etc., ולבנינו הוא לנו‎ it is ours and our children's, 31:43 and all that thou seest, הוא לי‎ it is mine (or, omitting the pronoun, as not required in our idiom, simply) is mine, 41:26 הוא אחד פרעה חלום‎ the dream of Pharaoh is one, 48:5 (הם לי‎), Exodus 3:5 for the place where on thou standest, הוּא קֹדֶשׁ אַדְמַת‎ it is holy ground, Numbers 13:32; 21:26; Deuteronomy 1:17; Joshua 5:15; 6:19; Job 3:19 + often; Genesis 23:15 מַההִֿוא ֗֗֗ ארץ‎, 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 מֵאָבִינוּ אֱלֹהִים הִצִּיל אֲשֶׁר כָּלהָֿעשֶׁר וּלְבָנֵינוּ לָנוּ כִּי‎ would have been heavy and inelegant.) So

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

d. peculiarly, as the subject of לֹא‎, Jeremiah 5:12 הוּא לוֺא‎ He is not; and as embracing its predicate in itself, Isaiah 18:2, 7 a nation terrible מִןהֿוּא‎ (= הוּא מַאֲשֶׁר‎) from (the time that) it was, Nahum 2:9 הִיא מִימֵי‎ from the days that (stative construct Ges^{§ 130}. 4) as it was, 2 Kings 7:7 they left the camp הִיא כַּאֲשֶׁר‎ as it was (compare הֵמָּה כַּאֲשֶׁר‎ 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 תַמָּתִי יוֺנָתִי הִיא אַהַת‎ one is she, my dove my perfect one, Leviticus 25:11; Ezekiel 11:15; 21:16; Lamentations 1:18 י הוּא ׳צַדִּיק‎ (often so in Late Hebrew); EC Lam 6:10 אָדָם הוּא אֲשֶׁר וְנוֺדָע‎ and that which he, even man, is, is known (De Now); compare 1 Samuel 6:19 לָנוּ הָיָה הוּא מִקְרֶה‎ an accident is it, (that) hath befallen us. (compare הֵמָּה‎ 4a.)

b. after pronouns — (α) 2 Samuel 7:28 הָאֱלֹהִים הוּא אַתָּה‎ Thou art he — God, Psalm 44:5 מלבי הוא אתה‎ thou art he — my king, Isaiah 37:16; 43:25 (אנכי‎), 51:9-10, 12; 52:6; Jeremiah 14:22; 29:23 Kt +; compare 49:12 תִנָּקֶה נָקֹה הוּא וְאַתָּה‎ 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}; Psalms 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) הוּא מִי‎, followed by a participle or substantive Genesis 27:33; Psalm 24:10 הַכָּבוֺד מֶלֶךְ זֶה הוּא מִי‎ 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 Isaiah 50:9 יַרְשִׁיעֵנִי הוּא מִי‎ who is he (that) will condemn me ? (others 'Who (emphatic) will condemn me ?') Job 4:7; 13:19; 17:3; 41:2; Jeremiah 30:21 (so with הֵנָּה‎ Genesis 21:29, הֵמָּה‎ Zechariah 1:9; 4:5). (γ) זֶההֿוּא‎ 1 Chronicles 22:1 EC 1:17; (frequently in Late Hebrew, where the two words coalesce into one זֶהוּ‎) . On the analogous ֗֗֗ הֵם אֵלֶּה‎), see הֵמָּה‎ 4b (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, Deuteronomy 32:39 הוּא אֲנִי אֲנִי‎ I, I am he, and beside me there is no God, Isaiah 41:4 (see Che) 43:10, 13 even from to-day I am he, 46:4; 48:12; Psalm 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. Joshua 2:21 כֶּןהֿוּא כְּדִבְרֵיכֶם‎ according to your words, so be it; Genesis 42:14 דברתי אשׁר הוא‎ that is what I said, Exodus 16:23; Leviticus 10:3; 2 Kings 9:36; Job 8:19 דרכו משׂושׂ הוא הן‎ lo that (what has just been described) is the joy of his way, 13:16; 15:9; 31:28; Proverbs 7:23; Ecclesiastes 2:1; 3:22; 9:9; Esther 9:1b; similarly the feminine הִיא‎, Judges 14:4 they knew not מי ׳כי היא‎ that it was from ׳י‎, Numbers 14:41; Joshua 10:13; Isaiah 14:24; Psalm 77:10 הִיא חַלּוֺתִי‎ 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 הִיא הַמֶּלֶךְ מִצְוַת כִּי‎ for it was the king's command, saying etc., 1 Samuel 20:33 (text dubious), Jeremiah 50:15, 25; 51:6, 11; Micah 2:3, perhaps Job 32:8. p. 241.

7 With the art. הָהֵ֫נָּה הָהֵם, הָהֵ֫מָּה, הַהִיא, הַהוּא,‎: so regularly when joined to a substantive defined itself by the article: Genesis 2:12 הַהִוא הָאָרֶץ‎ that land, 19:35 ההוא ובלילה‎ and in that night, 21:22 הַהִוא בָּעֵת‎ at that time, Deuteronomy 1:19 ההוא והנורא הגדול המדבר‎. Only four times does there occur the anomalous construction הוּא בַּלַּיְלָה‎ Genesis 19:33; 30:16; 32:23; 1 Samuel 19:10.