Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG]

Surely the introductory formula corresponding to "And when..." etc is 
WAY:HIY, often with B- or K-. (But then "And when..." in KJV is not 
good English, it is literally translated Hebrew). This is certainly 
common in Genesis and the historical books, and is often followed by a 
wayyiqtol to start the actual story.

I suppose it is characteristic of narratives in any language, 
certainly in biblical Hebrew, to start with some background 
information, e.g. the time ("In the days of King X...") or general 
situation ("There were three brothers..."), and then continue to the 
story themselves. It seems that events which took place before the 
main story starts are typically written in Hebrew with the X + qatal, 
where the qatal may be stative (as 1 Kings 1:1: David was old, or 
David had become old). This is one construction; WAY:HIY is another 
one.

Peter Kirk


______________________________ Reply Separator 
_________________________________
Subject: Introductory Subordination
Author:  lmartin AT vol.com at internet
Date:    08/02/1999 09:58


<snip>

A quick search of the KJV shows 892 occurrencesof "And when...";  66 of 
"Now when..."; 25 of "So when..."; and 6 of "Then when...".  BH has no 
such introductory word.  X-qatal fulfills the need.


--

Lee R. Martin
Pastor, Prospect Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee 
Instructor in Hebrew and Old Testament
Church of God Theological Seminary
http://www.earth.vol.com/~lmartin/