Derek: Morpho-Syntactical Considerations

The substantive derek is double gendered in biblical Hebrew. The existence of so many agreements for each of the genders (masculine 61, feminine 55) provides a unique opportunity to investigate the syntactical environments in which derek occurs and their effect (if any) upon its gender. This investigation has yielded a significant result. The data from Bible (given in full in the text) support the establishment of a firm rule: In biblical Hebrew, derek governs either masculine or feminine agreements in independent clauses and in some dependent clauses, but governs only feminine agreements in relative clauses. Having recognized this rule, an explanation of two otherwise difficult passages (I Kings 13:10 and Jeremiah 3 1:9) is given.