Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Cees van Veelen" <ceesv AT veelen.hobby.nl>]

I try to understand the discussions on the list about the difference
between WAYYIQTOL and QATAL and to see what effect diffent views have
on the translation.
Now I came to Gensis 1:5:
And he called (WAYYIQTOL) God (subject) the light Day, and the darkness
He called (QATAL) night. (I kept the word order, to show the chiastic
structure).
This structure is found again in verse 10.
Now I don't see any difference in tense or aspect between WAYYIQTOL or
QATAL in these examples. 
The two grammars I have (Jouon and Schneider) don't give a convincing
answer. Jouon writes that hebrew liks to shift from WAYYIQTOL to QATAL
just because the same verb is repeated, Schneider writes this
construction is used to mark the end of a narrative part.
How is this construction to be evaluated? The only thing I can imagine
is that the chiastic word order and the shift from WAYYIQTOL to QATAL
is to create (or emphasize) a contrast: God called the light Day, _but_
the darkness He called Night.


Greetings,

Cees van Veelen, 
Amsterdam The Netherlands