Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG]

I wonder if we have here three successive steps of filling followed by 
a bringing low i.e.:

You have abandoned your people, the house of Jacob
because
(1) they became filled (and remain filled) with superstitions etc
(2) then the land became filled with silver and gold etc
(3) then the land became filled with horses etc
(4) then the land became filled with idols
(5) then they were brought low - which brings us from the cause back 
to the result, a restatement of the start of verse 6.

The yiqtols then become a sort of comment on what was happening 
simultaneously - unusual in a chain of wayyiqtols, I know, but then 
this is poetry, not narrative.

This analysis does not require "perfective of confidence". Indeed, if 
the start of verse 6 is past, so can be the start of verse 9. But then 
the remainder of the chapter presumably must be future. I wonder if we 
can make the start of verse 6 "future perfect" by using the K.IY to 
link it with verse 5: "Let us walk in the light of YHWH (as in 
vv.3-4), because/even though/even after you (will) have abandoned your 
people, because...". Thus both the start of verse 6 and the whole of 
verse 9 become future (to the narrator's time), which makes sense of 
the jussive in v.9. A bit involved perhaps, but could this work?

To summarise, my suggested time order:
(1) filling with superstitions
(2) filling with silver and gold
(3) filling with horses
(4) filling with idols
(5) narrator's time
(6) abandoning/bringing low
(7) walking in the light of YHWH

Peter Kirk


______________________________ Reply Separator 
_________________________________
Subject: Perfective of confidence in Is 2:6-9
Author:  zellmer AT cag.pworld.net.ph at internet
Date:    03/02/1999 05:04


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




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