Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Joshua AT can-do.net" <joshua AT can-do.net>]

b-Hebrew members,

I have noticed there appears to be a couple methods in the Hebrew Bible to
say, "two days". Some passages express this by using the Hebrew word 'yom'
in the dual form, while at other times the text employs phrases which
includes the cardinal for 'two'. Is there any significance to the variety in
construction or a reason why an author would use one form over another? Or
is the construction used merely the preference of the author? A list of
passages and forms that I found are below:

  Ex 16:29 yômâyim (YWMYM)
  Ex 21:21 yômayim (YWMYM)
  Num 9:22 yomayim (YMYM)
  Num 11:19 yômâyim (YWMYM)
  Hos 6:2 mîyomâyim (MYMYM)
  2Sa 1:1 yâmîm shenâyim (YMYM ŠNYM)
  Est 9:27 shenê hayyâmîm (ŠNY HYMYM)

It seems "two years" follows a similar pattern. Thanks for your input :)

Joshua Luna