Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Bryan Rocine" <brocine AT earthlink.net>]

Dear Alviero,

Randall Buth also pointed out that the verbs I labelled
qatals are participles in the MT.  Thanks, both.  I confess
I was reading Esther in an unpointed text and jumped to a
tenuous conclusion.

Re the "habitual" qatal in poetry about which you ask, how
about  Ps 1:1 the verbs of which should logically display
concord with _yehgeh_ in v. 2?  How about Ps 93:3,  "The
seas have lifted (qatal) O YHVH; the seas have lifted
(qatal) their voice; the seas lift (yiqtol) their pounding
waves" or Jer 8:7, "...the dove, the swift, and the swallow
keep (qatal) the time of their migration"?

Shalom,
Bryan

you wrote:

> At 6:17 AM -0500 11/9/00, Bryan Rocine wrote:
> >B-Haverim,
> >
> >Reading, enjoying Esther...
> >
> >Esther 2:14  ba`ereb hi' ba'ah ubaBBoqer hi' shabah...lo'
> >tabo' 'el hammelek...  "in the evening she would be an
> >enterer and in the morning she would be a returner...she
> >would not come to the king..."  Here we see the qatal
used
> >in what I call procedural discourse (how-it-was-done
> >discourse).  It's set in the past and describes habitual
or
> >repetitive action.  Usually we see the "tag team" of
weqatal
> >and yiqtol in such a context.  Here we see qatal and
yiqtol.
> >So much for vav-conversive!  Qatal without the vav can
refer
> >to the habitual or repetitive in the history texts as
well
> >as the poetic.  Any comments?
>
>
> Hi Bryan!
>
> In Esther 2:14, the verbforms *ba'áh* and *shabáh* are
> vocalized as participles rather than as qatal forms
because the
> stress falls on the last syllable. I think this Masoretic
> vocalization is correct. I would sugest the following
translation
> (RSV, with modifications):
>
> «In the evening (the maiden) WAS COMING (*ba'áh*), and in
the morning
> she WAS GOING BACK (*shabáh*) to the second harem in
custody of
> Sha-ashgaz the king's eunuch who WAS IN CHARGE OF
[*shomer*, ALSO A
> PARTICIPLE] the concubines; she WOULD NOT GO [lo'-tabo',
negated
> yiqtol] in to the king again, unless the king delighted
[*xapec*, A
> STATIVE QATAL] in her and SHE WOULD BE SUMMONED
[weniqre'ah, A
> WEQATAL] by name».
>
> The participle alternates with (indicative, non volitive)
> yiqtol and weqatal as expected. I a past narrative, they
express
> continuity and customariness, respectively.
> Frankly, I would not say that *Qatal without vav can refer
to the
> habitual or repeetitive in the history texts as well as
the poetic*.
> I do not know any such examples, do you?
>
> Alviero Niccacci
>


B. M. Rocine
Associate Pastor
Living Word Church
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