Biblical Hebrew Forum

["B. M. Rocine" <brocine AT twcny.rr.com>]

Hi Nick,
You wrote:

>      Does anyone have any ideas about the unusual clause in Exodus 15:5a?
>      The two Hebrew words simply say: 'The deep(s) covered them'.
>
>      My questions concern:
>
>      1. The YQTL form of the verb, when the adjoining verbal clauses are
>      all QTL.
>

I don't think the clause is unusual for BH poetry.

In BH poetry we see less constraint of linguistic convention on the choice
of yiqtol or qatal forms than in prose.  I do not take this as ungrammatical
or weird or even particularly playful.  In other words, I would not explain
it thus: "Hey, it's poetry...anything's possible."  The ancients were not
the bored poets of the 20th century who use poetic license to venture into
the ungrammatical.  (This is not a value judgment per se.  I like some 20th
century poetry.    ;-)          )

We may account for the freer use of the yiqtol and qatal in BH as archaic or
archaizing.  Maybe, but I am not convinced it is either.

The choice of forms is meaningful although the meaning may be difficult to
express in translation.  Because of the difficulty, English translations
often understandably disregard the distinction between yiqtol and qatal when
translating BH poetry.  The qatal, having evolved from the Akkadian
permansive, is attributive or adjectival, often described as a perfect.  So
the qatal refers to the state the subject was in at the time the writer
refers to.  I like to translate qatal with an -er word in English as an
attempt to capture this adjectival sense, so Exo 15:5's yardu would be "they
were goers down."  In contrast, the yiqtol is truly fientive, describing
emerging action, "they covered them."  Is your target language particularly
facile at expressing such a distinction in aspect?

>
>      3. The fact that the subject precedes its verb, rather than follows
>      it.
>

Like with the choice of forms, the word order in BH poetry is less
constrained than prose.  In prose, the subject-yiqtol order would suggest
future or past habitual.  Neither is the case here.

In BH poetry, I think the writer most often chooses a word order that
enhances the parallelism within the verse.  In this case he wanted the
"them" element of the first verset next to the "they" element in the second
verset to create an a-b-b-a(-c) pattern.  BTW, I think leaving the
c-element, kemo 'aben, until last puts a nicely dramatic emphasis on that
element.  It is often possible to preserve the order of the elements in the
versets in an English translation.

Could any of this impact your translation?

Shalom,
Bryan


B. M. Rocine
Living Word Church
6101 Court St. Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13206

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