Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Trevor & Julie Peterson" <06peterson AT cua.edu>]

Fred wrote:

> Here is what I found so
> far:
>
> - This word is a Qal perfect
> - The perfect aspect designates completed action
> - The completed action may be in the past, presence or future

This is somewhat oversimplified. To get the full picture of what's going on
with a particular verb form, you have to consider what sort of clause it
appears in and what context surrounds it. This is a past narrative context,
and the clause is subordinate. In this setting, I would expect a participle
to indicate something like "he was resting" or "he has been resting." A
perfect is simply the way you state that he did something. He rested. And
the time would generally be past, especially since the narrative is past.
You might even expect it to mean something like "he had rested."
>
[snipped]

> Recently, I discovered that verbs can also be "stative," and
> that seemed to fit their explanation.

That is a possibility, but then the question still needs to be asked, when
does the context place the state being described? I would still say I'd
expect it to be past.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics