Plural of abstraction.
An abstract noun is quite often expressed by a plural, which properly speaking
aims at the various concrete manifestations of a quality or of a state; thus בַּטֻּחוֹת security
originally meant the sure circumstances,
the sure things, secura, from which the transition was made to security.
Qualities: אֱמוּנוֹת integrity Pr
28.20† (the singular is frequent) and אֱמוּנִים (7 x; sg. אֵמוּן 1 x); בִּינוֹת intelligence Is
27.11† (the sg. is freq.); תְּבוּנוֹת intelligence (6
x; sg. freq.); דֵּעוֹת knowledge 1Sm
2.3; Job 36.4† (sg. דֵּעָה
4 x); בַּטֻּחוֹת security Job
12.6† and מִבְטַחִים
Is 32.18; Jer 2.37 (sg. freq.); יְשׁוּעוֹת salvation Is
26.18; Ps 18.51; 28.8; 42.6; 44.5 etc. (sg. freq.); הַוּוֹת evil (misfortune and malice); חֲמוּדוֹת excellence Dn
9.23; אישׁ חֵמוֹת
Pr 22.24 (= אישׁ חֵמָה
15.18 bad-tempered man); חֲרָפוֹת shame Dn
12.2; תּהְפֻּכוֹת perversity (no
sing.)(1); מֵישָׁרִים rectitude; אוֹנִים strength Is
40.26,29; רַחֲמִים compassion; בְּמִסְתָּרִים Jer 13.17; Ps 17.12; Lam 3.10 and בַּמִּסְתָּרִים Ps 10.8; 64.5 in secret (like בַּמִּסְתָּר Hb 3.14; Ps 10.9); מַמְּרֹרִים bitterness Job
9.18; מַמְתַּקִּים sweetness Ct
5.16; מַחֲמַדִּים charm,
beauty Ct 5.16; שַׁעֲשֻׁעִים pleasure,
delights (no sing.); תַּעֲנוּגִים pleasure,
delights. Instances are mainly poetic. Cf. also § 90 f.
(1) Instead of קִנְאָה the pl. קְנָאוֹת is used for jealousy in the legal and ritual sense מִנְחַת ק׳ offering
of Jealousy Nu 5.15,18,25; תּוֹרַת ק׳ law
of J.
vs. 29†. (Paul Joüon, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew, 2 vols. [trans.
Takamitsu Muraoka; Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 2003], 2:502)
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