Biblical Lexicon

H0853 H0853

Conj-w | Pro | 10977× in 2 senses

Direct object marker for definite nouns; also a homographic preposition meaning 'with, beside, near'

One of the most frequent words in the Hebrew Bible, appearing nearly 11,000 times. In the vast majority of cases it serves as the untranslatable sign of the definite direct object — the particle that tells you 'this noun is receiving the action.' It appears in the very first verse of Scripture: God created 'et the heavens and 'et the earth (Gen 1:1). A homographic but etymologically distinct preposition 'et means 'with, beside' and appears about 62 times, as in Psalm 2:11 'serve the LORD with fear.' Most translations simply absorb the object marker into word order, while Spanish occasionally renders it with 'a' (the personal 'a').

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1. definite direct object marker — The definite direct object marker, prefixed to nouns that are determined (by article, construct, proper name, or suffix). Untranslatable in most target languages — English, French, and German leave it unmarked, while Spanish sometimes uses the accusative preposition 'a.' Its sheer frequency (10,915x) reflects how pervasive transitive verb constructions are in biblical Hebrew narrative and law. Gen 1:1 ('et the heavens and 'et the earth) and Gen 1:28 ('et the fish, 'et the birds) illustrate its role framing the created order. 10915×

DISCOURSE_NAMES › Discourse Markers › Discourse Particles

AR["אֶת־","أَت","أَتْ","رَعُو","نَسْلَكَ","∅","∅-"]·ben["-","-কে"]·DE["-"]·EN["-"]·FR["-"]·heb["את"]·HI["(को)","-","को","को-"]·ID["(DOM)","(O.P.)","(penanda-objek)","[obj]-"]·IT["-"]·jav["*","[dhateng]-","dhateng","dhateng-","ing-"]·KO["*","을","을-"]·PT["(a)","(a)-","-","↳"]·RU["-","[#]","[знак прямого дополнения]","[о.м.]","[объект]"]·ES["(obj)","*","*-","[part.obj.]","a"]·SW["(kitu)","-","[alama]","macho","mungu","neno"]·TR["-","-i","-i-"]·urd["کو","کی"]

Gen 1:1, Gen 1:28, Gen 3:18, Gen 4:20, Gen 5:22, Gen 11:18, Gen 13:16, Gen 16:3, Gen 21:26, Gen 22:10, Gen 24:30, Gen 24:67 (+38 more)

▼ 1 more sense below

Senses

2. with, beside (preposition) — A preposition meaning 'with, beside, in the company of,' homographic with but functionally distinct from the object marker. German glosses reveal the distinction clearly: 'mit-(Akk)' versus bare '(Akk).' Found 62 times in contexts of accompaniment or proximity, as in Num 5:19 ('if no man has lain with you') and Ps 31:7 (the LORD's faithfulness 'with' the psalmist). The Moabite cognate similarly distinguishes the two functions. 62×

DISCOURSE_NAMES › Discourse Markers › Discourse Particles

AR["-","أَ-","إِلَى","ال","اللهَ","بِ-"]·ben["-কে","-সঙ্গে","কে-","সকল","সেই-"]·DE["(Akk)","-(Akk)-","mit-(Akk)","zu-(Akk)"]·EN["-","[obj]","to","with"]·FR["(*)"]·heb["את","את-"]·HI["-","-को","को","से"]·ID["(objek)-","(penanda-objek)"]·IT["(*)"]·jav["Panjenengan-kersa","bab-","botén-wonten","dhateng","dhateng-","ing-sangisoring","kasangsaran","lan","sami-njaga","sedaya","sedaya-","tumindak"]·KO["-를","~과","~를","~에게","~와","~을","을"]·PT["[dir. obj.]","a","com","o","os"]·RU["-","[obj]","[знак-прямого-дополнения]","с"]·ES["-","a","a-","con"]·SW["BWANA","Edomu","Mungu","adui","kwa","kwa-","na","nchi","nyumba"]·TR["-","-e","-i","-ı"]·urd["-سے","-کو","اِت-","کو","کی","کے-ساتھ"]

Num 5:19, 2 Chr 18:23, Ps 2:11, Ps 3:7, Ps 31:7, Ps 31:23, Ps 33:13, Ps 34:1, Ps 34:1, Ps 34:4, Ps 34:9, Ps 35:1 (+38 more)

BDB / Lexicon Reference

I. אֵת with makk. אֶת־, with suff. אֹתִי; אֹֽתְךָ, אֹֽתְכָה †Nu 22:33, אֹתָ֑ךְ, אֹתָ֑כָה †Ex 29:35, fem. אֹתָךְ; אֹתוֹ etc.; 2 pl. אֶתְכֶם, once אֽוֹתְכֶם Jos 23:15; 3 mpl. regularly אֹתָם, rarely אֶתְהֶם †Gn 32:1; Ex 18:20; Nu 21:3; Ez 34:12; 1 Ch 6:50, once אֽוֹתְהֶם Ez 23:45; 3 fpl., on the contrary, regularly אֶתְהֶן (13 times), once אֹתָ֑ן Ez 16:54 (also אֽוֹתְהֶן Ez 23:47, אֹתָ֖נָה Ex…