Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Alviero Niccacci <sbfnet AT netvision.net.il>]

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




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