21st Century Bible Hebrew -- about that dagesh....

So there’s a comment on my Talmud teacher’s blog about object suffixes saying that when there’s a dagesh in the nun, it’s 3^rd person and when there’s not a dagesh, it’s first person.

Meaning that in Genesis 1:26 b’tsalmenu and ki-d’mutenu have to be 1^st plural.

But that doesn’t explain Genesis 3:22. Transliterating with double consonants where dagesh appears, it says k’achad mimmennu. How do you translate that?

וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים, הֵן הָאָדָם הָיָה כְּאַחַד מִמֶּנּוּ, לָדַעַת, טוֹב וָרָע; וְעַתָּה פֶּן-יִשְׁלַח יָדוֹ, וְלָקַח גַּם מֵעֵץ הַחַיִּים, וְאָכַל, וָחַי לְעֹלָם.

Well, normally mimmennu is translated “as one with us”. But see Numbers 9:12 where it has to be 3^rd singular.

לֹא-יַשְׁאִירוּ מִמֶּנּוּ עַד-בֹּקֶר, וְעֶצֶם לֹא יִשְׁבְּרוּ-בוֹ; כְּכָל-חֻקַּת הַפֶּסַח, יַעֲשׂוּ אֹתוֹ.

Don’t leave [any] of it until morning, but don’t break a bone of it; according to all the law of the Passover he shall make it.

This is the law of the Little Passover to be observed when somebody is disqualified from the normal Passover.

So once again, the answer I keep giving is that it’s the context, stupid. I wrote last week about “us” meaning “man and Gd together” in both the creation narrative and the Gan Eden narrative. Especially in the latter, there’s nothing else it can mean, since we know the angels don’t know good from evil. So I’m covered.