Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>]

Rolf Furuli wrote:
> I object strongly to the claim that linguistic convention and  the
> intrinsic meaning of a verb form are interchangeable. For example, in 50
> verses in Ezekiel chapters 1and 10 we find a description of a heavenly
> throne. Of the verbs with past reference I count 28 YIQTOLs, 2 QATALs, 7
> participles, two infinitive absolutes, and 15 WAYYIQTOLs. In addition, there
> are 3 QATALs with pre-past meaning. Why do we have all these YIQTOLs with
> past reference  in this scenario? Interestingly, when I translated the
> Ethiopic Enoch into Norwegian some years ago, I found the same excess of 
> imperfective
> forms, with and without prefixed WAW in the heavenly visions in that book.
> Logically, there is some linguistic convention behind this, but this
> convention does not tell us anything about the intrinsic meaning of the
> YIQTOLs or the Ethiopic prefix-forms.

HH: I just looked at Ezekiel 10, and there is nothing in the use of the 
verbs that does not seem to fit into well-known categories of usage. The 
YIQTOLS give every evidence of being progressive imperfectives 
(Waltke-O'Connor, Biblical Hebrew Syntax #31.3b). They describe ongoing 
action that the prophet observes.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard