An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

1b.
ה ָנּה ֑ ֵ֫
תֹבֹט
Gen 6:2
ךָי ֶל֫ הֹא ָ וּבֹטּ־ה ֫ ַמ How beautiful (verb) are your tents!
Num 24:5
In the first example, the sense of the second clause הנה תבט (in terms of aspect
and time reference) is more determined by its syntactic context (as an embedded
clause after a form of the verb r˒y with ky, ‘to see that…’), than is the sense of the
second example, ו בט־המ.
This discrepancy between the Hebrew and English idioms
leads to English “covering up” the workings of two different Hebrew constructions. 10
22.2.3 Fientive and Stative with the Same Root
a Both English and Hebrew treat certain verbs sometimes as stative, sometimes as
fientive, depending on the particular meaning they have in a sentence. Bernard
Comrie illustrates the point by contrasting the verb ‘be’ in ‘Fred is silly’ and ‘Fred is
being silly.’ In the first sentence Fred is in a state, but in the second ‘he is acting
silly,’ a dynamic (i.e., fientive) situation. 11 Compare these sentence pairs.
1a. םדָ אָ ה־ל ֽ ָ ָכּ ִמ ם ַכּחֶיּ ְ וַ And he (Solomon) was wiser (stative) than anyone.
1b. יתִּ לְ ַמ ֫ ָעשׁ ֑ ֶ י ִל ָמ ֲע־ל ָכבּ ְ
יתִּ ְמ ַכ֫ חָ ֶשׁ וְ
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2a.
חוּר ַ א ֵל ָמ
. . . עַ ֻשׁוֹהיוִ ה ָמ ְכחָ 2b. א ֵל ָמ הוהי דוֹב ְכוּ
׃ן ָכּ ְשׁ מִּ ה־ת ַ אֶ
1 Kgs 5:11
all my work, into which I have poured my effort and
skill (fientive)
Qoh 2:19
Now Joshua…was filled (stative) with the spirit of
wisdom.
Deut 34:9
And YHWH’s glory filled (fientive) the tabernacle.
Exod 40:34
b Some verbs, especially those denoting a mental perception or an emotional state,
exhibit both stative and fientive characteristics at one and the same time. Often, as in
the sentence יתא֑ ִ נֵ ָשׂ ו ָשׂ ֵע־תאֶ ו ְ בֹק ֲעַי ־תא ֶ בהֹא ַ וָ
‘I love Jacob but Esau I hate’
(Mal 1:2–3), stative forms are used, and they are rendered by non-progressive forms
in English. On the other hand, as in the above sentence, they may be bound with
direct objects, coloring them with a fientive notion, and may even occur in the
participle, which tends to have a progressive and thus fientive sense. For example:
3a. הדוּהי ָ ו ִ לאֵ רָ ְשִׂי־ל ָכו ְ And all Israel and Judah loved (lit., was loving) David.
10 There are some cases where the Hebrew adjective and stative verb coincide and are
undistinguishable, but this parsing problem is essentially minor.
11 Bernard Comrie, Aspect: An Introduction to the Study of Verbal Aspect and Related
Problems (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1976) 36.