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  • From: "Fred Putnam" <fputnam AT biblical.edu>
  • To: "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: TOHUW WA BOHUW in Gen & Jer.
  • Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 09:43:34 -0500


Peter,

I think that the statement

<snip> The X-QATAL construction implies not consecutiveness but a previous
state: "The earth had been TOHU..." <snip> would be more accurate if it were
modified
to something like:

The main function of w+X-QATAL seems to be to indicate that the event or
situation
described in the clause is *not* consecutive or directly dependent upon that
described
in the preceding clause. It may "flash back" to a situation or event anterior
to the
preceding clause(s), or describe something simultaneous or coterminous to it
[or them].
Its function reflects the syntax of the clause (as modified by the context
and the content
of the clauses), not the verbal form (as your next sentence accurately
implies), since it
applies, mutatis mutandis, to non-verbal (adjectival, participial) predicates
as well.

I have written about this briefly in the Hebrew Bible Insert: A Student's
Guide to the
Syntax of Biblical Hebrew (Stylus Publishing, 1996). [If this offends the
list, please
forgive me; my intent is to point to a resource.]

Best wishes,
Fred

Frederic Clarke Putnam, Ph.D.
"Dominus illuminatio mea."

Professor of Old Testament
Biblical Theological Seminary
fputnam AT biblical.edu
215-368-5000x150 (office & voice-mail)





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