Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lee R. Martin" <lmartin AT vol.com>]

George Athas wrote:

> Bryan Rocine wrote:
>
> > B-Haverim,
> >
> > What do you guys think of the qatal of hyh in v. 2 weha'arec haytah tohu
> > vabohu  ? ...

>  in it, he's considering hyh to be notional in
> > verbless clauses and wondering why hyh surfaces sometimes and not others.
> > might it be that hyh is not merely a copula?

Dear George, HYH in is not a copula in BH.

> given the loaded use of hyh
> > in Gen 1, might weha'arec hayta tohu vabohu mean "and the earth
> > *became*..." or "and the earth had become..."?

When HYH means "became" it is followed by the preposition L, e.g. Gen.2:7.

>
>
> Perhaps: "and the earth had been ..." OR "and the earth used to be ..." ?

X-HYH  is used for beginning states or situations when providing setting or 
background
for a narrative, e.g. Gen. 3:1 .