Biblical Hebrew Forum

[CS Bartholomew <jacksonpollock AT earthlink.net>]

R.Alter's notes (The David Story) on 1Sam 1:7 comment on the "iterative
tense."  Waltke & O'Connor (31.2.b) also cite 1Sam 1:7 as an example of the
non-perfective used in an iterative context.

What does this prove?


1Sam. 1:7 wkN y(#h #nh b#nh mdy (lth bbyt yhwh kN tk(snh wtbkh wl) t)kl

Iteration is very explicitly encoded here by #nh b#nh
(LXX eniauton kat¹ eniauton). What then can we say about the non-perfective
y(#h of 1Sam. 1:7? It occurs here in a context which is explicitly iterative
but the iterativity is made explicit by other means. Perhaps a negation
could be stated, that a perfect would never be used in the slot occupied by
y(#h.  

Even if this negation could be sustained, it is not equal to a positive
statement that the non-perfective encodes iterativity, is it?


greetings,
Clay Bartholomew