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Save "Genesis 41:33 - On the noun אִישׁ"
Genesis 41:33 - On the noun אִישׁ

וְעַתָּה֙ יֵרֶ֣א פַרְעֹ֔ה אִ֖ישׁ נָב֣וֹן וְחָכָ֑ם וִישִׁיתֵ֖הוּ עַל־אֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃

“Accordingly, let Pharaoh find someone who is discerning and wise, whom you can set over the land of Egypt.…”

(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, by employing a situation-oriented construal as outlined in this introduction, pp. 11–16.)


Heb. אִישׁ נָבוֹן וְחָכָם. The speaker is schematically describing a recommended situation. In that description, the function of אִישׁ is to label the participant who is essential for the audience (Pharaoh) to grasp that depicted situation. This is a prototypical usage of אִישׁ as a situating noun.

The referent's gender is not at issue, and it is not specified by the utterance (rather, it goes without saying).


As for rendering into English, the NJPS ‘a man of discernment and wisdom’ nowadays overtranslates gender. The revised rendering avoids specifying gender.

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