Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

I wrote:

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

And Lee wrote:

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

Lee, I don't see my suggestions as contradictory to the observation you made 
(and a darn
good one, too!). In the context, the reader is viewing the beginning of 
creation, but it
is in the past. Thus, the earth, at first, was ToHU and BoHU. That was the 
beginning state
of the earth, but from the reader's point of view, this is no longer the case 
because God
did something to it.
Best,
GEORGE ATHAS
Dept of Semitic Studies,
University of Sydney
- Email: gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au
---------------------------------------------------
Visit the Tel Dan Inscription Website at
http://www-personal.usyd.edu.au/~gathas/teldan.htm
---------------------------------------------------