Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Joe:

On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 6:19 PM, Joseph Justiss <jljustiss AT msn.com> wrote:

>
> Karl
>
> Thank you for responding. If the context is refering to present realities
> wouldn't this necessitate translating the Yiqtol with a present tense
> though?


No. Unlike English and other Indo-European languages, Biblical Hebrew did
not express tenses through the form of the verb.


> The context does seem to be refering to the past. This and the evidence
> from the versions is very powerful to suggest a past reading. I was just
> wondering if there was any more grammatical evidence other than context to
> guide us in knowing when a Yiqtol may be refering to the past. Does X Yiqtol
> ever do this, or are past reference Yiqtols usually clause initial?Also,
> verse 26 in the immediate context seems to be predicting that one day after
> this the city will once again be called the city of righteousness and the
> faithful city. I just thought perhaps this X Yiqtol construct (a
> construction which very often has a "+ projection") might be doing the same
> thing, i.e. functioning as a little tiny insertion of a "predictive
> narrative" as Longacre likes to call it.
>

Context is the main and final arbiter.


> Thanks
>
> Joe Justiss
>
>
> Karl W. Randolph.