To: "Shoshanna Walker" <rosewalk AT concentric.net>, "Biblical Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: I AM
Date: Wed, 2 May 2001 13:24:49 -0500
Shoshanna Walker wrote:
> Actually, the word is in future tense, and since it wasn't written in
> English, "I am" and not "I will be", is an incorrect translation.
>
> This ALWAYS bothered me
Do you believe that the prefix-conjugation of biblical Hebrew can accurately
be called the "future tense"? Or that translating a prefix verb into the
present tense is always wrong? I'm looking for linguistic studies that argue
in favour of this or similar views. Upon which of these do you base your
understanding of the Hebrew "tenses"?
Ken Penner
Ph.D. student, Biblical Field (Early Judaism)
McMaster University
Hamilton, Canada