Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>]

Peter,

The weqatal form to which you are referring is a continuation form. This 
means that it usually gets its mood from a previous clause (there are 
exceptions to this, but they are exceptions). In this case, the imperative 
עלו sets the imperatival mood, and this is continued by the weqatal והבאתם. 
The nature of the continuation is that the weqatal does not move onto a 
completely independent thought, but rather sees its action as being in 
seamless continuity with the initial imperative. In other words, these are 
not two separate instructions ('Go up! Bring!') but one complex instruction 
('Go up and bring').


GEORGE ATHAS
Director of Postgraduate Studies,
Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)
Sydney, Australia


From: <ps2866 AT bingo-ev.de<mailto:ps2866 AT bingo-ev.de>>
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:55:10 +0100
To: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org<mailto:b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>>
Subject: [b-hebrew] Haggai 1,8

Dear Friends of B-Heb,

I'm reading through the prophet Haggai and came around Chapter 1,8. The
writer first used "ALU" (Qal Imperativ) in the sentence followed by "Bo"
as Waw Consec. (Hiphil) - same Person as the Imperativ.
My question regarding the translation: is it possible to see "Bo" not with
imperatival force as many translations do, but as consecutive: "Go up to
the mountain in order to bring wood".
I tend to treat the Waw Consec. not necessesary as imperatival, as the
writer easily could have used a imperative form there.
Thank you for any help ! I've found nothing helpful in commentaries.
Yours
Peter Streitenberger, Germany
wwww.streitenberger.com