Genesis 2:17
| 88 | Emphatic form of from us = from out of ourselves. Notice that there are not one but two “from” prepositions in this saying. The Hebrew מִמֶּנּוּ mimenu (#4480) from out of ourselves is constructed with the standard first-person plural נּוּ- suffix, with an added vowel point which has been tagged by some scholars as the “energetic nun”. Out of over 2000 occurrences of the suffix, 27 times it is somehow finagled to mean third-person masculine singular “him” and from this, "it". Cf. Gesenius on Pronominal Suffixes. In any case, this exact construct is clearly plural in Genesis 3:22, “And Yahweh elohim is saying, `Behold, the Adam HAS BECOME according to one from out of ourselves מִמֶנּוּ [mimenu]…” Or Psalm 103:12, “As far as the sunrise is from the sunset, he has caused to become far from out of ourselves מִמֶנּוּ [mimenu] our sins.” Or Numbers 13:31, “…for strong is himself from out of ourselves מִמֶנּוּ [mimenu].” There is no way to tell if the suffix is third person masculine singular other than by forceful speculation that evades normal Hebrew syntax. It is changed in these instances in Genesis 3 to the masculine singular from it or from him in every single translation. The -מִ preposition represents the idea of “a part taken out of a whole” according to Gesenius and Fuerst. The proper third-person singular might be something like מִמֶנּוֹ mimenow (from out of himself) but this does not exist anywhere in the Hebrew Scriptures. If no such witness exists elsewhere, shall we make one up? Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon nonetheless affirms מִמֶּנּוּ is plural. Out of 1223 occurrences of the preposition, the plural form appears 171 times.
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