An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

7.
תא ֵ יתי ִ ִשׂ ֫ ָע־םאִ ׃ךְ ָל יתִּ רְ ַ֫בּ דּ־ר ִ ֶשׁ אֲ
ם ַעז ַ֫
ה ָל ָכּ־ד ֫ ַע חי ַ ִל ְצהִ ְ
8. . . . תוֶ ָמ ֫ רחַ ְב ִנוְ . . . תוֹמֹק ְמּ ה־ל ַ ָכבּ ְ
ם ָשׁ םיתִּ חְ דַּ ה ִ ר ֶשׁ אֲ
promised you.
Gen 28:1–5
ו He will be successful until (the time of) wrath is
completed.
Dan 11:36
They will prefer death…in all the places…I shall have
driven them.
Jer 8:3
30.5.3 Stative Verbs
a The perfective form of stative verbs can signify most of the uses suggested for
fientive verbs, but statives present a special set of problems in the perfective form. A
stative inherently denotes a situation with an extended internal structure, while a
perfective form conceptualizes a situation from without, as a single whole. In this
section we are concerned only with those points of grammar unique to statives. Before
turning to the suffix conjugation’s more precise nuances in stative situations, we
should note first that translation in these situations depends on the nature of the verb.
Statives can be analyzed into three kinds: (1) those that denote an adjectival quality
without taking an object, which often take a copula verb plus adjective in English
(e.g., ‘I am unworthy [ יתִּ ְנֹט ֫ קָ
] of any love,’ Gen 32:11); (2) those that denote a
quality and take a complementary object (10.2.1), which are often translated like
those without an object (e.g.,’your hands are full [וּא ֵל֫ ָמ ] of blood,’ Isa 1:15); and (3)
quasi-fientives (22.2.3), those that exhibit both stative and fientive characteristics;
these denote a mental or psychological state and take an object (e.g., ‘Israel loved
[בהַ א ָ ] Joseph,’ Gen 37:3). The relationship between these three kinds of statives can
be seen in the English trio: ‘she is afraid,’ ‘she is afraid of him,’ ‘she fears him.’
b The uses of the suffix forms of statives are similar to those of fientives. In past time a
stative situation may be telic (## 1–3), ingressive (## 4–6), or constative (## 7–8).
These situations take on a somewhat dynamic quality because the reference is to an
event; the dynamic quality increases when the verb is transitive (viz., quasi-fientive; #
7).
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1.
2.
תִיבַּ֫ ה ַ ה ָל ָכּ The temple was finished.
1 Kgs 6:38
׃וּל ָכּ ֫ ן ָשׁ ָע ֶב וּל ָכּ They vanish, in smoke, they vanish.
Ps 37:20
3. ה ָערָ ה ָ התָ לְ כ־י ֽ ָ ִכּ (An) evil (fate) has been determined by him.