Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Okay, thanks for the clarification.  FWIW, I agree.

> Dave, I am quite happy with "... The earth [at that point] was TOHU and
> BOHU etc." i.e. the X-QATAL as concurrent. What I am saying the Hebrew
> probably doesn't mean is "... The earth then became TOHU and BOHU etc.";
> for X-QATAL is not normally consecutive.
> 
> Peter Kirk
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Dave Washburn [mailto:dwashbur AT nyx.net]
> > Sent: 03 April 2002 17:53
> > To: Biblical Hebrew
> > Subject: RE: TOHUW WA BOHUW, Gen & Jer. (hyth)
> > 
> > Peter,
> > I'm not sure I understand why you're pushing for a pluperfect here.  I
> > see no reason not to view the X-qatal as concurrent with v.1: "In the
> > beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth [at
> > that point] was TOHU and BOHU etc."  At a discourse level, I see
> > v.2 narrowing the scope of the narrative.  We have creation of both
> > heavens and earth in v.1, then we focus on earth for the rest of the
> > discourse.
> > 
> > > To me, what fits the Hebrew and the context is "had become" which is
> > > almost equivalent to "was", but not "then became".
> > >
> > > Peter Kirk
> > >
> 
> 
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Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
This time, like all times, is a very good one if we but know what to do 
with it.
                  -Emerson