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About Ecclesiastes 12:1
וזכר את בוראיך בימי בחורתיך עד אשר לא יבאו ימי הרעה והגיעו שנים אשר תאמר אין לי בהם חפץ׃
Is the Hebrew word בוראיך in Ecclesiastes 12:1 singular or plural?
Which letter or letters are indicating that it is singular or plural?
Thanks!
It is a masculine plural active participle of the G-stem (Qal) of the root ברא with a second person masculine singular suffix: "those that create you (your creators)". The yod signifies the masculine plural construct state.
The same form can be found in Deut. 7:15, בְּכָל־שֹׂנְאֶֽיךָ, "on all those that hate you" (from שׂנא), while the singular form of ברא can be found in Isa. 43:1, כֹּֽה־אָמַר יְהוָה בֹּרַאֲךָ, "thus says YHWH who creates you (your creator)".
As a related answer mentions, this should not lead one to "mistakes ... by those looking for hidden hints of plurality to the godhead", because it is most likely a fossilized term.
It is clear that Trinitarians have no clue in relation to Hebrew, the verbs, nouns, and context of a sentence makes plural form words the singular for example Isaiah 41:13 - "For I am Yehovah your God who takes hold of your right hand and tells you do not fear I will help you." the pronoun I is singular and is ani in Hebrew, Yehovah the creator God is speaking in first person singular not plural, also Yehovah itself is a singular noun, so if you are talking about a creator in relation to Yehovah it is singular even though ELOHIM here is a plural word I am Yehovah your (GOD) the word ELOHEKA meaning (Your-God) is the plural construct second person singular, but the plural form Elohim in that word becomes a singular due to the singular nouns and pronouns. --SEE Stand On Scripture on YouTube it is a Unitarian Messianic YouTube Channel you can also see www.StandOnScriptures.com and go to Anti-Trinity Course page and see 49 answers to 49 Trinitarian arguments for the trinity being debunked.
The fact that a "plural" form of a word was used does not always indicate plurality in itself. As a matter of fact the word Elohim ( a plural type form) is used to indicate singular pagan gods that were never considered plural beings. God himself says He is ALONE and ONE. There is a simple explanation which shows that in Genesis 1, it is a single Being who created -- see God: Is Elohim a Plural Word?.
The word in Ecclesiastes 12:1 is actually a verb, which is considered a "loan word" , and as such it would also have taken on a new sense when it began to be used. This BibleHub link does a great job of differentiating between the sense of a word and it's form in the Hebrew scriptures.
The plurality use in verbs and nouns in Hebrew are not always used in plural, it all depends upon on the context of what you are speaking about or who you are. In this case no translation ever translates this as plural, see Chabad.org relating to Eccl 12:1 it is only the YLT (Youngs literal translation) that translates it as creators, however every other translation has singular, even Osyaik which Trinitarians claim is MAKERS every translation including YLT translates it as singular Maker.
