Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: Esther 2:14

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Alviero Niccacci <sbfnet AT netvision.net.il>
  • To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Esther 2:14
  • Date: Sun, 3 Jan 1904 17:22:51 +0300


At 2:53 PM -0500 11/10/00, Bryan Rocine wrote:

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"?


Dear Bryan,

Here is my analysis of the texts you mention:


(Ps 1:1) Blessed is the man who NEVER WALKED [NEGATIVE QATAL = PAST] in the counsel of the wicked, or NEVER STOOD [IDEM] in the way of sinners, or NEVER SAT [IDEM] in the seat of scoffers;
(1:2) but his delight is [NON VERBAL SENTENCE = PRESENT] in the law of the Lord, and on his law HE SHALL MEDITATE [X-YIQTOL = FUTURE] day and night.
(1:3) HE SHALL BE [WeQATAL = FUTURE] like a tree planted by streams of water, that SHALL YIELD [X-YIQTOL = FUTURE] its fruit in its season, WHILE its leaf SHALL NOT WITHER [X-NEGATIVE YIQTOL]. In all that HE SHALL DO [X-YIQTOL], he SHALL PROSPER [YIQTOL].

Ps 1:1-3 switches from past, to present and to future, a switch that is well possible in direct speech. The verb forms appear to have the same functions they have in direct speech. *Yehgeh* initiates a future perspective that continues into the next verse.

More serious is the problem posed by Ps 93:3:
(Ps 93:3) The floods HAVE LIFTED UP [QATAL = PAST], o Lord, the floods HAVE LIFTED UP [IDEM] their voice, the floods WERE LIFTING UP [YIQTOL = CONTINUOUS PAST] their roaring.

Such cases of qatal // yiqtol for the same event/information is a phenomenon that has been studied, e.g., by U. Cassuto and M. Held in the sixties-seventies on the basis of Ugaritic and ancient Hebrew poetry. S. Gevirtz also suggested that the alternation qatal-yiqtol was a Canaanite peculiarity, also found in the Amarna letters sent by the city rulers of Palestine, Phoenicia and Syria.
When I presented a brief discussion on the use of verb forms in poetry (see my _Syntax_ Chapter X), I was sympathetic with the view of those who believe that in this alternation qatal and yiqtol have the same meaning. At that time, I was still much under the influence of my studies of Ugaritic under my teacher Mitchell Dahood. With the years I have realized more and more that, despite the similarities, each language needs be analyzed on its own merit.
Presently I do not think it justified to keep that theory. Actually from a text-linguistic analysis of prose texts follows that both qatal and yiqtol are used in historical narrative. Both express a secondary level of communication, or background, but they differ one from the other in terms or aspect--qatal indicates a single event/information while yiqtol (and similarly weqatal) indicates habit, continuity, repetition, or description. These functions qatal and yiqtol also play in poetry.

As for Jer 8:7, I think that a past reference is suitable:
(Jer 8:7) Even the stork in the heavens HAS ALWAYS KNOWN [QATAL] her times; and the turtledove, swallow, and crane HAVE ALWAYS KEPT [QATAL] the time of their coming; but my people know not / OR: HAVE NOT COME TO KNOW [QATAL] the ordinance of the Lord.
If Jer 8:7 contains a proverbial utterance, Biblical Hebrew is not the only language that employs a past tense to express a customary behavior.

Peace and all good to you and all the BH-list Haverim.
Alviero Niccacci




--
Studium Biblicum Franciscanum Tel. +972 - 2 - 6282 936
POB 19424 - 91193 - Jerusalem Fax +972 - 2 - 6264 519
Israel
Home Page: http://www.custodia.org/sbf
Email mailto:sbfnet AT netvision.net.il




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page