Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Shai wrote:

> This is the apocopated imperfect (=shortned future) of HYH, used mainly to
> express a wish. Its paradigm is:
>
> 1m.s.: ehi (Ez 11:16, Ps 18:24 etc.)
> 2m.s.: tehi (Proverbs 3:7, 22:26, Ez 2:8 etc.)
> 2f.s.: tehi (Nahum 3:11 etc.)
> 3m.s.: yehi (Gen 1:3, and frequently)
> 3f.s.: tehi (Gen 13:8, 26:28 etc.)

Again, this is somewhat misleading, since apart from our chapter in Hosea,
ehi only appears in the vayyiqtol form (with prefixed va-, and a lengthened
vowel because alef does not lengthen). Rather than a precative sense of
"wish," this is a preterite statement of past fact. The usual first-person
precative form is ehye--in this case identical to the expected imperfect
form, but as a general category (apart from final yod roots), actually
lengthened from the imperfect by the addition of a ventive element. How do
you explain the shortened volitive form here?
>
[snipped]
>
> A "normal" translation would be forced to give here something
> like "I (=God)
> will be words of death, I will be Hell" which makes sense in this context,
> but is theologically unacceptable. So they "fixed" the text. But
> they didn't
> fix it seven sentences earlier, in Hos.13:7, where the exact same word is
> translated "I will be" (esomai)! Therefore, I would not be in any hurry to
> except this kind of conjecture.

It's only "normal" if the shortened jussive form is "normal" for this use,
but everywhere else we find ehye.
>
> But even if we accept here the "where" translation, there is no doubt an
> apocopted imperfect does exist.

To be sure. But ehi as a volitive form is elsewhere absent, nor do we expect
a shortened volitive form at all for the first person.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics