Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Paul Zellmer <zellmer AT cag.pworld.net.ph>]

Is 2:6-9 appears to be an interesting study in the uses of the
perfective.  What are the indications as to the timing of the
various wayyiqtols and qatals?

For reference purposes, I include the text in the scheme
suggested for use on the list.

K.IY NF+A$:T.FH (AM.:KF B."YT YA(:AQOB K.IY
MFL:)W. MIQ.EDEM W:(ON:NIYM K.AP.:LI$:T.IYM
W.B:YAL:D"Y NFK:RIYM YA&:P.IYQW.

WAT.IM.FL") )AR:COW K.ESEP W:ZFHFB W:)"YN
Q"CEH L:)OC:ROTFYW WAT.IM.FL") )AR:COW
SW.SIYM W:)"YN Q"CEH L/MAR:K.:BOTFYW

WAT.IM.FL") )AR:COW ):ELIYLIYM L:MA(:A&"H
YFDFYW YI$:T.AX:AWW. LA):A$ER (F&W.
)EC:B.:(OTFYW

WAY.I$.AX )FDFM WAY.I$:P.AL-)IY$ W:)AL-T.I&.F)
LFHEM

The following will indicate my current thinking and more specific
questions on the subject text:

The wayyiqtols in verse 9 [WAY.I$.AX and WAY.I$:P.AL] are
normally translated as perfective of confidence (aka prophetic
perfect).  I see the clue to this as being the jussive in the
same verse [W:)AL-T.I&.F)].

The three occurrences of WAT.IM.FL") are statives and, as such,
are many times translated into English as presents.  But what
marks their time as being different from the wayyiqtols in verse
9?  Could they not also be "future states," perfects of
confidence?  After all, WAY.I$:P.AL [v. 9] is a stative, and
WAY.I$.AX [v. 9] is a passive, which are very closely related to
statives.  For that matter, could the cases of WAT.IM.FL") be
states on which the focus is on time previous to the time of
writing, "past states," which leave unanswered what is actually
occurring at the present?

Since there is no waw preceding the second K.IY in verse 6, are
these two K.IY clauses to be considered to be coordinated?  Or is
the second clause starting an imbedded description of the case
against the House of Jacob?  I.e., does the second K.IY clause go
with the three WAT.IM.FL") statives, and the first K.IY clause go
with the perfectives of confidence/jussive of verse 9?

*Any* insights that you can give to help my understanding of this
particular BH beast would be greatly appreciated.

Paul

P.S.  Besides getting help in recognizing the clues to time of
events described in this passage, my hope is that responses to
this post go beyond declarations about deficiencies of and
challenges to particular analytical methods.  I honestly have not
seen any approach (word level, clause level, or discourse level)
that adequately addresses this "perfective of confidence" issue.

--
Paul and Dee Zellmer, Jimmy Guingab, Geoffrey Beltran
Ibanag Translation Project
Cabagan, Philippines

zellmer AT faith.edu.ph