Thanks for the reply. It raises two questions in my mind.
Firstly, what sort of present "meaning" do you attribute to the
formula? Is it a "performative present", "timeless present",
etc.? I was assuming that you meant the former, but please let me
know if that was a mistake. Secondly, I'm curious to know why you
think that God's voice *must* have a present "meaning". It does not
appear self-evident to me.
Best wishes for your research,
Max Rogland
Leiden University
> I agree with your quote from Krispenz, that in contexts with "to me" the
> _koh 'amar yhwh_ formula does not have a present meaning, but rather a
> perfect or past meaning. However, I think we should distinguish between
> "past tense" (=grammaticalized location in time) and "past meaning"
> (location in time based on either pragmatic or semantic factors). In some
> cases the _koh 'amar yhwh_ formula evidently represents God's "voice" and
> must have a present meaning. Based on such examples I think that most of
> the occurences of the formula have present meaning.