Hebrew plural verbs with singular meaning

Basically, in unusual instances of seeming grammatical mismatches in the Bible, a linguistic phenomenon called “attraction” has likely occurred. This phenomenon occurs in many languages, including English.

An example in English of linguistic “attraction” – a technical grammatical mismatch – is: “Turn left at the street where there is a carwash and a fast food restaurant.” Due to there being two landmarks, the sentence should have a plural verb. But, “there are a carwash” (even with addition of another landmark), grates on the ear.

This type of grammatical error is called “attraction,” where verbs or adjectives or even pronouns are so strongly connected to the form of a nearby noun that proximity overtakes the proper grammatical construction.

So, in connection to the few examples of where Elohim (for Israel’s God) is clearly the subject, though used with plural forms of verbs or adjectives, we now can see that this is an instance where linguistic “attraction” has likely occurred.

For instance, even though it literally says this in the Hebrew, we know the Hebrew Bible is not saying that “the gods” caused Abraham to wander from his father’s home (Gen. 20:13), “the gods” revealed themselves to Jacob at the place called El Beth El (Gen. 35:7), “the gods” redeemed Israel (2 Sam.7:23), or “the gods” judge the earth so that humankind can be pleased that justice prevails (Ps. 58:11). Rather, we can understand that we are reading instances in the Hebrew where linguistic “attraction” has occurred.

There are still other instances where certain Hebrew adjectives refer to Israel’s God using plural forms. A potential for confusion develops because these adjectives translate into nouns in English (e.g., Job 35:10; Ps. 149:2; Ecc. 12:1; Is. 54:5). It is difficult to convey the sense of this in English. These are not expressed in verbs or nouns, but rather by adjectives in Hebrew. The instances are:

• Job 35:10, which conveys the idea of God (eloah, singular form) who (are) making humanity (osai, pl. [= plural]);

• Psalm 149:2, the idea of HaShem who (are) making Israel (osav, pl.);

• Ecclesiastes 12:1, the idea that we are to remember God (ha-elohim, plural form) who (are) creating us (bor'eikha, pl.);

• Isaiah 54:5, the idea that HaShem of hosts (ADONAI ts'vaot), God of the whole earth (elohei khol ha-arets, plural form), who (are) mastering/husbanding Jerusalem (boalaikh, pl.), who (are) making her (osaikh, pl.).

When conveyed in this fashion, it is apparent that there are more grammatical oddities here. Yet, Hebrew language scholars who translate the Hebrew text into English are not caught off guard. They translate these into English in singular forms, knowing there is no mysterious thing happening here.

Unfortunately, however, the fact that these adjectives translate into English as nouns – “my makers” (Job 35:10); “his makers” (Ps. 149:2); “your creators” (Ecc. 12:1); “your masters/husbands, your makers” (Is. 54:5) – has opened the door to speculation that these texts are really saying the God of Israel is a mysterious plurality of makers-creators.

In reality this continues to be a matter of linguistic “attraction” that has become an occasion for mistakes to be made by those looking for hidden hints of plurality to the godhead.

https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/56375/makers-and-creators-job-3510-121-kohelet-singular-v-s-plural

‎We must regard as doubtful a number of participles in the plural, which, being used as attributes of God, resemble plurales excellentiae; thus, עשָֹׁי my Maker, Jb 35:10; עשַֹׁ֫יִךְ Is 54:5; עשָֹׁיו ψ 1492; עשֶֹׁיהָ Is 22:11; נֽוֹטֵיהֶם stretching them out, Is 42:5; for all these forms may also be explained as singular,

‎⁦‪https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Gesenius%27_Hebrew_Grammar/124._The_Various_Uses_of_the_Plural-form#GHGpar-124-k‬⁩

A feature of the Hebrew language are plurals but this is common for words which refer to power and mastery, whether talking about God or humans.

Some common examples:

• Exodus 22:14 בְּעָלָ֥יו - "Its owners are not with it"

• Genesis 39:20 - אֲדֹנֵ֨י "The lords of Joseph took him" - where both verses are talking about a single person.

In the case of Osai, it has a pronominal suffix (plural) "ai" בָּנַי my children, however there are many Hebrew words that have Pronominal Suffixes "ai" and have "singular" sense, example:

• Genesis 43:3 my face (singular) פָנַ֔י in Hebrew reads my faces, (plural) but it is obvious that human beings have one face.

• Job 13:26 my youth (singular) נְעוּרָֽי Hebrew reads, my youths (plural) it is obvious that human beings have a single youth.

In the case of "Boreika" it has a pronominal suffix (plural), eg סוּסֶ֫יךָ your horses.

Also it has singular sense example:

• Gen. 24:51 אֲדֹנֶ֔יךָ your Lord, in this case is talking about Abraham, one Lord, despite having plural pronominal suffix, has sense "singular, in Hebrew it is literally your lords (plural).