An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

the situation as a single whole, viewing the situation from without. The same
combination of time reference and aspect occurs in Hebrew, in several patterns.
b In the customary non-perfective the internal structure of a situation is conceived of as
extended over an indefinite period in the time prior to the act of speaking. Bernard
Comrie remarks that the view may be “so extended in fact that the situation referred
to is viewed not as an incidental property of the moment but, precisely, as a
characteristic[Page 503] feature of a whole period.” 18 The past customary nonperfective,
in contrast to what we call the present non-perfective, implies that the
situation described no longer holds at the time of the utterance. With active situations
the customary non-perfective is essentially a statement of iterativity (i.e., ‘he used to
do X’; ## 1–4). This usage is less frequent with stative situations, in which it
represents the situation as existing without interruption (## 5–6; note that the verbs in
question are not stative). 19
1. ץר֑ ֶא֫
ָ ה־ן ָ ִמ ה ֶל ֲעַי דאֵ וְ Streams(?) would come up from the ground.
2. בוֹיּא ִ ה ֶשׂ ֲעַי ה ָכ ָכּ֫
׃םימָ ִ יּה־ל ַ ָכּ
3.
ה ָנ ָשׁ ְב ה ָנ ָשׁ ה ֶשׂ ֲעַי ן ֵכ ְ
4. דוֹס ֑ קיתִּ ְמ ַנ ודָּ חַי ְ ר ֶשׁ אֲ
ךְ ֵלּהַ ְנ םיהלֹ ִ א ֱ תיבֵ ְבּ
׃שׁגֶ ר֫ ָ ְבּ
5. וּל ֲעַי םי ִלוּלבוּ ְ
ה ָנֹכיתִּ ה־ל ַ ַע
6. ןֹכּ ְשִׁי ר ֶשׁ א ֲ ימְ ֵ י־ל ָכּ
׃וּנחַי ֲ ן ָכּ ְשׁ מִּ ַהּ־ל ַע ןנָ ָעהֶ Gen 2:6
Thus Job would always do.
Job 1:5
ו And so he used to do annually.
1 Sam 1:7
…with whom we used to enjoy fellowship; we used to
walk together in the throng into the house of God. 20
Ps 55:15
A stairway led up to the middle level.
1 Kgs 6:8
All the days the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they
would camp.
Num 9:18
c In the incipient past non-perfective the speaker has in view the initial and continuing
phases within the internal temporal structure of a past situation. In contrast to the
participle, which represents a situation as continuing without interruption or
progressing but does not focus on the inception of the situation, the prefix conjugation
in this use combines the notions of commencement and continuation. Like the
18 Comrie, Aspect, 28.
19 Cf. Joüon §113f / p. 303; contrast Driver, Tenses in Hebrew, 27–28.
20 Cf. Ps 42:5 for a conceptually and grammatically similar passage.