Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

George:

On Sun, Oct 28, 2012 at 12:38 AM, George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au> wrote:

A few possible suggestions:

(1) It actually adds a subjunctive element to the verb. However, I'm not convinced by this, because it seems limited to otherwise vocalic subject suffixes on prefix conjugations.

From what I’ve seen, one of the uses of the Yiqtol is to indicate a subjunctive. So far all the places where I’ve found this waw-nun ending is on Yiqtol verbs, so any subjunctive element may already be carried by the Yiqtol conjugation.

(2) It's just a throwback to an older form.

Yes … and no. Its purpose may have been forgotten already by the second temple period—it’s found only in direct quotes of pre-exile speakers in Chronicles and not found in Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther—but merely a throwback to an older form seems unlikely in light of verses that have multiple plural verbs but only one of which has this nun ending. 

GEORGE ATHAS

Dean of Research,

Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)

Sydney, Australia

Karl W. Randolph.