Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG]

Here we have a qatal which is something like an English past perfect: 
"the rock in which they have taken refuge" and in which they continue 
to trust, which trust is shown by their continued worship in yiqtols 
which correspond to an English present: "(the gods) who eat the fat of 
their (regular and ongoing) sacrifices and drink...". Don't be misled 
by the translations, even back to LXX, which seem to have missed the 
point that the sacrifices are regular and ongoing; this fits the 
context better as well as the Hebrew verb form. (Of the translations I 
have to hand, Francais Courant has a future tense in v.38, and other 
French translations and Russian Synodal have past continuous, but only 
two Turkish versions imply a present.)

Peter Kirk


______________________________ Reply Separator 
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Subject: Deut. 32:37-38
Author:  mjoseph AT terminal.cz at internet
Date:    11/02/1999 16:16


In Deut. 32:37 there is a perfect/qatal/suffix conjugation verb XFSFYW. 
which is translated unremarkably as a past tense, "they took refuge" 
(NIV). In the next verse, though with a change of subject, there are two 
more past tenses, "ate" and "drank," though the verb in each case is an 
imperfect/yiqtol/prefix conjugation verb, YO)K"LW. and YI$:T.W. 
respectively.

I'm not sure if this bears on the endless thread concerning the Hebrew 
conjugations or not, but in any case I was wondering if someone could 
address the question of imperfect/yiqtol/prefix conjugation as a past 
tense, not so much generally, but rather specifically in this verse, 
where there is no waw, consecutive or otherwise, and where the verbs in 
question are found in a subordinate clause introduced by )$ER

Mark Joseph