to contain, Gen. 4:13 גדול מִנְּשׂוֹא too great to bear, Ps. 61:3 the rock יָרוּם מִמֶּנִּי too high for me, Is. 49:6 too light to be, Ex. 18:18, 1 K. 19:7, Gen. 26:16; 36:7, Ru. 1:12, Hab. 1:13, Ps. 139:12 too dark for thee (to see). So with מְעַט Isa. 7:13 is wearying men too little? Nu. 16:9. — Hos. 6:6 knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings; Ps. 52:5 evil rather than good, Hab. 2:16, 2 S. 19:44, where perhaps rd. בְּכוֹר for בדוד, first-born rather than thou (Sep.).
Rem. 3. The word expressing the quality is occasionally omitted, Is. 10:10 (greater or more) than those of Jer., Job 11:17 (clearer) than noon. In Mic. 7:4; Is. 40:17; 41:24, Ps. 62:10, מהבל the prep. is partitive or explicative, of (consisting of) vanity.
Rem. 4. The consn. with מן is sometimes virtually a superlative, 1 S. 15:33 תִּשְׁכַּל מִנָּשַׁים אִמְּךָ the most bereaved of women (lit. bereaved above w.). — A superl. sense is expressed by joining a noun with its own pl. in the gen., Gen. 9:25 a slave of slaves (lowest slave), Ex. 26:33 holy of holies (most holy), Is. 34:10 eternity of eternities (all eternity), Ecc. 1:2 vanity of vanities (absolute vanity), Song 1:1, Ez. 16:7, Deu. 10:17. 1 K. 8:27, though such phrases had at first sometimes a lit. sense.
Rem. 5. Just as the simple adj. the abstract noun with gen. conveys superl. meaning, as טוּב the best, Gen. 45:18, Is. 1:19, מֵיטָב the best 1 S. 15:9, 15, מִבְחָר the choicest Ex. 15:4, Deu. 12:11, רֹאשׁ, רֵאשִׁית the chiefest, Nu. 24:20, Am. 6:1, 6.
Rem. 6. A kind of superl. sense is given to a word by connecting it with the divine name. Probably the idea was that God originated the thing (as Ar.), or that it belonged to Him, and was therefore extraordinary. Sometimes the meaning appears to be “in God’s estimation,” Gen. 10:9. Cf. Jon. 3:3 עִיר גְּדוֹלָה לֵֽאלֹהִים (Acts 7:20); Ps. 36:7; 68:16; 80:11; 104:16, Song 8:6, 1 Chr. 12:23. — 1 S. 14:15; 26:12 (Gen. 30:8 seems different).
