Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Gene,

> I questioned earlier:
>
> I would like to ask the members of the list, if there
> are any who would like to present what they believe is
> the best translation of this phrase.
>
> hayah  howeh  yihyeh
>
> I only received a few responses, but Shoshanna had
> this to say:
>
> He was, he is, he will be
>
> Peter responded with this:
>
> Well, Shoshanna, that is the meaning in modern Hebrew.
> But in biblical
> Hebrew these verb forms were not tenses, at least
> certainly not in this
> simple sense. See the whole recent thread on verbs,
> from which you might
> well conclude that the Hebrew verb is mysterious after
> all. At least,
> the result of such investigations is that such a
> phrase is
> untranslatable without a context.


HH: Gene, what text are you quoting? Without a context, as Peter 
said, your request for a translation seems to involve a hidden 
agenda. The first is a QATAL from HYH, the second a Qal participle 
from HWH, and the third a YIQTOL from HYH. A participle would 
normally involve another element giving the subject, like a pronoun.

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard