An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

performative, and ## 26 and 28 (ntn) probably are also. Another present-time use of
the suffix conjugation is the perfective of resolve.
30.
31. יתִּ חִ ה ַ ןוֹר ְפ ֶע ן ַעַיּ וַ
. . . םהָ רָ ְבא־ת ַ אֶ
. . . ךְ ָל יתִּ תַ ֫ ָנ הדֶ ָשּׂ הַ
. . . ןוֹר ְפ ֶע־לא ֶ ר ֵבּדְי ַ וַ
הדֶ ָשּׂ ה ַ ףסֶ כּ ֶ֫
יתִּ תַ ֫ ָנ
32. םוֹיּה ַ ךָיתִּ ֫ חְ תַּ ִפּ
םי ִקּ זא ִ ה־ן ָ ִמ
ימִ ֳענ ָ הרָ ְכ ָמ Naomi is going to sell…
Ruth 4:3
And Ephron the Hittite replied to Abraham…, “I will
give you the field…” And he (Abraham) said to
Ephron…, “I will pay the price of the field.”
Gen 23:10–11, 13
I will release you from your chains today.
Jer 40:4
e Referring to absolute future time, a perfective form may be persistent or accidental. 18
ָ ַ֫
ַ
ָ
A persistent (future) perfective represents a single situation extending from the
present into the future.
[Page תֹנ ָע ֵל תּ ְנא ֵמ ית ָמ־ד ַע Until when will you refuse to humble yourself before
490]
33.
י֑ נ ָפּ ִמ me?
Exod 10:3
With an accidental perfective a speaker vividly and dramatically represents a
future situation both as complete and as independent.
35.
34. ה ֵנּהִ . . . לא ֵע ָמ ְשִׁי ְלוּ
וֹתֹא יתִּ ְכר֫ ַ ֵבּ
36. וּנ ֫
תוֹ ֑נ ָבּ ינוּ ֫ר ְשּׁ ִ
ָלּ ֻכּ וּנדְ בַ֫ א ָ וּנ ְעוַ֫ ָגּ ןהֵ ׃וּנדְ בָ֫ אָ
And concerning Ishmael…I will bless him.
Gen 17:20
א Women will call me happy.
Gen 30:13
We will die. We are lost, we are all lost.
Num 17:27
This use is especially frequent in prophetic address (hence it is also called the
“prophetic perfect” or “perfective of confidence”).
(Hag 2:23), ḥrp ‘to defy’ (1 Sam 17:10), nsk ‘to appoint’ (Ps 2:6), ˓br Hiphil (Zech
3:4), and pqd Hiphil (Jer 1:10). Many of the instantaneous perfectives noted here may
be taken as performatives.
18 Cf. Joüon §112g-i / pp. 298–300; LHS 265. The role of what B. Zuber calls the
“uncertainty at first blush” of the sense of certain forms would be worth exploring;
see Das Tempussystem des biblischen Hebräisch (Beiheft zur Zeitschrift für die
Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 164; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1985) 140–41.