וַיִּשָּׂ֣א עֵינָ֗יו וַיַּ֛רְא אֶת־הָאִ֥ישׁ הָאֹרֵ֖חַ בִּרְחֹ֣ב הָעִ֑יר וַיֹּ֨אמֶר הָאִ֧ישׁ הַזָּקֵ֛ן אָ֥נָה תֵלֵ֖ךְ וּמֵאַ֥יִן תָּבֽוֹא׃
He happened to notice the wayfarer in the town square. “Where,” the old man inquired, “are you going to, and where do you come from?”
(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of the Hebrew term containing אִישׁ.)
Prototypically, אִישׁ is used in sketching a situation schematically. Here, it performs its basic function of labeling the situation-defining participant, who was previously introduced by the narrator, in terms of that situation. In this case, the depicted situation is seen through the eyes of the ‘old man’.
As for rendering into English, the NJPS ‘to see the wayfarer’ shortchanges the situation-oriented meaning contribution of אִישׁ. (Meanwhile, the referent’s gender is indeed already evident and thus normally would not be mentioned here.) Happily, essential participation can be expressed via certain verbs. In this case, better than the vague ‘see’ employed by NJPS is ‘notice’, whose semantics include the mental act of situating the object of regard.