The “Seven Eyes” of Zech 3:9 and the Meaning of the Dual Form

Most Hebrew textbooks teach that biblical Hebrew has, alongside the singular and plural, a “dual” number used when speaking of two of something. For example, it is commonly supposed that “two horses” in biblical Hebrew is סוּסַיִם (sûsayim), with the ‑ayim ending expressing the dual.

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This article points out that this common view is mistaken. Only vestiges of the dual remain in biblical Hebrew, and by the classical stage of the language there was no longer a productive grammatical dual. Rather, as in other Semitic languages, the dual and plural ceased to have distinct forms. For most nouns the plural form, being more common than the dual, came to be used for all non-singular instances. However, in the case of body parts naturally occurring in pairs, the dual was often the more commonly used of the two non-singular forms, and it was usually the dual which supplanted the plural. In biblical Hebrew the -ayim ending, when it occurs with parts of the body, consistently functions as a plural, not a dual, and to express the idea of two the numeral must be supplied.

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Dual forms of units of measurement and time, such as כִּכָּרַיִם (a two-talent weight) and יוֹמַיִם (a two-day period), are best regarded as lexicalized forms , which were preserved through regular usage in everyday life.

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It follows that שִׁבְעָה עֵינָיִם in Zech 3:9 must mean “seven eyes” and not, as occasionally suggested, “seven pairs of eyes.” Moreover, this “dual-form plural” is rarely employed where terms for body parts are used with alternative meanings, making it unlikely that עֵינַיִם in Zech 3:9 means either “facets” or “springs.” For the latter meaning biblical Hebrew consistently uses עֲיָנוֹת. The argument that עֵינַיִם could be an Aramaism meaning “springs” is based on a misreading of the alleged Targumic evidence.

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