An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

Ps 61:3
This use forms a fitting complement for stative situations represented by the
perfective conjugation (30.5.3c).
5. וּניבָ ִ֫ י אֹ לו ְ וּעד ְ י ֽ ָ אֹ ל They do not know (pfv.) and do not understand.
Ps 82:5
d In the incipient present non-perfective the internal temporal structure of a situation is
conceived of as beginning and continuing in the non-past (## 6–8). It is like the
incipient past non-perfective, except that the situation exists not prior to the time of
speaking but at the same time. In verse, this type of non-perfective can be associated
with an instantaneous perfective (# 9; 30.5.1d).
[Page י ִעוְ ַשׁ לוֹק ְל ה ָבי ִשׁ ֫ ְק הַ
Pay attention to my cry for help,…because to you I
506] ךָי ֶל֫ א־י ֵ ִכּ . . . pray (begin praying).
6.
׃ל ָלּ ַפּתְ אֶ
7. י ִלוֹק הוהי־ע ַמ ְשׁ
ארָ ְק אֶ
8. ימּ֑
ִ ַע וּמחֲ ַנ וּמחֲ ַנ
׃ם ֶכיהלֹ ֵ א ֱ ר ַמאֹ י
Ps 5:3
Hear, YHWH, as I call (begin calling) aloud.
Ps 27:7
“Comfort, comfort my people,” your God begins to
say.
Isa 40:1
9. םדי ֵ חִ ְכ ַנו ְ וּכל ְ וּר ְמ אָ
. . . יוֹ ֑גּ ִמ (being) a nation…
ודּ֑ ָ חַי ְ בל ֵ וּצ ֲעוֹנ י ִכּ They plot together (pfv.) with one mind,
וּתֹר֫ ְכִי תירִ ְבּ ךָי ֶל֫ ָע they form (non-pfv.) an alliance against you.
They say (pfv.), “Come, let us efface them from
Ps 83:5–6
e By habitual non-perfective we mean the representation of a repeated general,
nonspecific situation. Rarely in prose, but rather frequently in poetry and proverbial
expressions, the non-perfective is used to denote habitual activity with no specific
tense value. It forms a fitting parallel with the gnomic perfective (30.5.1c). 25 Whereas
the gnomic perfective conceives of a universal state or event as a single event, the
habitual non-perfective represents the internal temporal phases of the general situation
as occurring over and over again, including the time present to the act of speaking.
10. . וֹנוֹשׁ ְלבּ ִ קלָֹי־ר ֶשׁ א ֲ לֹכּ
בלֶ ֶכּ֫ ה ַ קלָֹי ר ֶשׁ אֲ ַכּ . .
whoever laps with his tongue…as a dog laps
Judg 7:5
11. וּל ְכאֹ יּ־אֹ ל ן ֵכּ־ל ַע Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the
25 T. O. Lambdin, Introduction to Biblical Hebrew (New York: Scribner, 1971) 39.