Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Dave Washburn <davidlwashburn AT gmail.com>]

Hebrew wasn't a tensed language. Really, we don't know what the different conjugations denoted. Some say tense, some say aspect, I say syntactic connections (or lack thereof) and others have other ideas. But you're right, it didn't have a future tense. The best we can gather, the prefix conjugation (commonly called the "imperfect") served as a sort of irrealis mode, and future falls into that category since it hasn't happened yet as of the time of speaking (or writing). Context tells us the tense, whether present: "I am wailing" or future "I will wail." The cohortative, being a volitional form (basically a first-person imperative), pretty well has to be future, because it's expressing the intent to do something. So you are correct that there's no future tense. But context tells us that in this particular clause, the cohortative is functioning as a future by the very nature of the statement.

Does that make sense?

On Sat, Jul 20, 2013 at 8:14 PM, Mike Burke <michaelgburk AT yahoo.com> wrote:

But I didn't think there was a future tense in Hebrew?

 

Michael Gerard Burke

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From: Dave Washburn <davidlwashburn AT gmail.com>
To: "b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2013 11:10 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] ואילילה Micah 1:8

It would appear to be true. Everything I have found says the word only appears in the hiph`il, the waw is clearly conjunctive (not consecutive) and the -aH at the end suggests cohortative. It appears to mean "I will wail/mourn," so your original rendering "and I will cry" seems reasonable.

On Sat, Jul 20, 2013 at 7:52 PM, Mike Burke <michaelgburk AT yahoo.com> wrote:

I'm told it's Neither. It is a first person singular future cohort + conjunctive vav. The root is י-ל-ל in the Hif'il Binyan.

Is that true?

 

Michael Gerard Burke

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From: Mike Burke <michaelgburk AT yahoo.com>
To: "b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2013 9:27 PM
Subject: [b-hebrew] ואילילה Micah 1:8

Does ואילילה mean ''and I will cry"?

 

Michael Gerard Burke

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Dave Washburn

Check out my Internet show: http://www.irvingszoo.com

Now available: a novel about King Josiah!