Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

1. I am sorry, but I fail to find one single WAYYIQTOL in the entire Hebrew bible. Isn't the insertion of an English double Y for a single one in Hebrew, not a subversion of the biblical text? Even if one is a declared devotee of the hypothetical "gemination", even then, all one is permitted to do, methinks, is but gurgle it in his mouth, the tiny, extra-literal, dot ensconced in the bosom of the yod, notwithstanding. But doubling the letter in writing?

2. The existence marker W, used as a "waw consecutive" imparts the meaning of "and" or "next" or "opposite" (and hence the coincidence of meanings in the English words "and" and "end"). In time, it means "next", or in the future. For instance, Deut. 8:10 

ואכלת ושבעת וברכת את יהוה אלהיך

WE-AKAL-TA WE-SABA-TA U-BERAK-TA

"When you have eaten and are satisfied praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you".

 

with the "suffixed" PP (personal pronoun) TA, short for אתה ATAH, 'you'.

On the other hand, we accept the aft hitched personal pronoun as imparting to the act the sense of a past action, for instance אהבת = אהב-אתה 'love-you', in the past. So what is the WE-AHAB-TA of Deut. 6:5

ואהבת את יהוה אלהיך בכל לבבך ובכל נפשך ובכל מאדך

 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength"

it is imperative! How come? First by context, and second by the PP אתה ATAH, 'you', for a person facing the speaker. Otherwise ואהבתי WE-AHAB-TI is future. This is the magic of Hebrew.

3. What is the WE-$AMR-U, 'and keep-they' of EX. 31:16

ושמרו בני ישראל את השבת לעשות את השבת לדרתם ברית עולם 

KJV

"Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant."

NIV

"The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant."

It is timeless, it is 'always'. 

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On May 16, 2013, at 2:40 AM, Rolf wrote:

WAYYIQTOL is connected with two short vowels