(א) וְאִ֣ישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל נִשְׁבַּ֥ע בַּמִּצְפָּ֖ה לֵאמֹ֑ר אִ֣ישׁ מִמֶּ֔נּוּ לֹא־יִתֵּ֥ן בִּתּ֛וֹ לְבִנְיָמִ֖ן לְאִשָּֽׁה׃
Now Israel’s side had taken an oath at Mizpah: “None of us must ever give his daughter in marriage to a Benjaminite.”
(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of the Hebrew term containing אִישׁ.)
The situating noun אִישׁ is commonly used in schematically framed prohibitions such as this one. The fronting of אִישׁ before the verb is a marked syntax; it indicates that exceptions are not tolerable. Similar cases include:
- אִישׁ מִמֶּנּוּ אֶת־קִבְרוֹ לֹא־יִכְלֶה מִמְּךָ (Gen 23:6)
- אִישׁ אַל־יוֹתֵר מִמֶּנּוּ עַד־בֹּקֶר (Exod 16:19)
Contrast the unmarked syntax, which places אִישׁ after the verb. Examples include:
- לֹא־יָרִים אִישׁ אֶת־יָדוֹ (Gen 41:44)
- לֹא תֵצְאוּ אִישׁ מִפֶּתַח־בֵּיתוֹ עַד־בֹּקֶר (Exod 12:22)
- וְלֹא־יַחְמֹד אִישׁ אֶת־אַרְצְךָ (Exod 34:24)
- לֹא־יַקְדִּישׁ אִישׁ אֹתוֹ (Lev 27:26)
- לֹא־יִקַּח אִישׁ אֶת־אֵשֶׁת אָבִיו (Deut 23:1)
Such categorical statements are more gently framed; they do not pointedly exclude exceptions. See further Stein 2020, §8.2.1 (pp. 188–92) and §8.4.11 (pp. 211–12).
As for rendering into English, the NJPS ‘None of us will’ appropriately construes the usage of our noun as akin to an indefinite pronoun. (Thus the referents’ gender is not expressed; it goes without saying.) However, it does not reflect the marked syntax. The revised rendering does.
(Although this is not a matter of gender per se, a more precise representation of the nuance here supports the situation-oriented construal of אִישׁ, and a recognition of its discourse functions.)