Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>]

Peter wrote in part:

> Similarly, W:LO)-NOWTAR can be understood with a past meaning. This is 
> an interesting one which ties up with Bryan's idea of QATAL being 
> stative, a state arrived at as a result of a previous event. The 
> English idiom is actually similar. "No-one is left" appears to be 
> present tense, but is actually perfect, for "left" is the passive past 
> participle of the verb "leave". Similarly "no-one will be left" also 
> has a past element. If we look at the reference time, in a verse like 
> 2 Samuel 17:12, which is the time of the observation, the observers 
> say that in the battle which is already past the attackers did not 
> leave anyone alive, and so in that sense "no-one will be left" is past 
> relative to the reference time. This is basically the same argument as 
> with ):A$ER NIMCF) but slightly more subtle. These subtleties need to 
> be looked at carefully by those trying to understand the Hebrew verb 
> system, and certainly not rejected as "example[s] of how people 
> holding traditional viewpoints defend these with questionable means" 
> or as fighting "with tooth and nail".

If you mean "past from the POV of the battle already being seen as 
over" I agree.  In this case, I wonder if the English future perfect 
wouldn't be a better choice: "We will attack them wherever we will 
have found them", and "No one will have been left alive."

Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
A Bible that's falling apart means a life that isn't.