An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

consecutive forms in late Hebrew: “It is at least significant that in the preponderant
majority of our instances the inf. abs. occurs precisely at the point where one would
expect a transition to the appropriate consecutive form of the verb.” 58 His further
thesis that the substitution belongs not to the original text but to the work of scribes
and copyists lacks convincing evidence. 59
[Page 596] d This use of the infinitive absolute, bound with waw and functioning in
place of a finite verb, closely approximates its use as an adverbial complement, for in
both constructions the infinitive qualifies a leading verb. The constructions are
distinguished by the presence or absence of a conjunctive waw. Without waw the
infinitive is adverbial, qualifying the same situation as the verb; with waw the
infinitive is used as a finite verb and represents a situation subordinate to the leading
verb. In Jer 22:19 (35.3.2 # 4), for example, the adverbial infinitives ךְ ֵל ְשׁ הַ ו ְ בוֹחס ָ
‘dragged off and thrown away,’ though coordinate with one another, are not
coordinated with the verb and thus directly qualify the situation ר ֵבקִּי ָ ‘will be
buried.’ In the present construction the infinitive is coordinated with the main verb
and represents a situation distinct from though subordinate to it; the infinitive absolute
with waw introduces a separate situation from that represented by the finite verb,
though that verb specifies the person and aspect of the infinitive. 60 The infinitive can
inf. infinitive absolute
58
Rubinstein, “Finite Verb,” 365.
59
So also, for example, Hammershaimb, “Infinitivus Absolutus,” 91.
60
But cf. # 16. There is a systematic exception to this pattern: in a few passages a
pronoun follows the infinitive absolute and qualifies it, e.g., wəšabbēaḥ ˒ănî praised’
(Qoh 4:2), wənahăpôk hû˒ ‘it has been charged’ (Esth 9:1, cf. 3:13; Exod 36:7; 1 Chr
5:20; Esth 2:3). This is called the qatāli anāku construction and is most common in
the first person; it is found in Hebrew, Phoenician, and Amarna Canaanite. See W. L.
Moran, “ ‘Does Amarna Bear on Karatepe?’—An Answer,” Journal of Cuneiform
Studies 6 (1952) 76–80; Moran, “The Hebrew Language in Its Northwest Semitic
Background,” The Bible and the Ancient Near East: Essays in Honor of William
Foxwell Albright, ed. G. E. Wright (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1961;
reprinted, Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1979) 5472, at 61–62. Despite the
clear examples in prose, this construction has been controversial; see G. R. Driver,
“Some Uses of qtl in the Semitic Languages,” Proceedings of the International
Conference on Semitic Studies Held in Jerusalem, 19–23 July /965 (Jerusalem: Israel
Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1969) 49–64 (all Hebrew examples are
“really” perfectives); Hammershaimb, “Infinitivus Absolutus,” 91–93; David Marcus,
“Studies in Ugaritic Grammar 1, ” Journal of the Ancient Near Fastern Society 1/2
(1968) 55–61; Samuel Loewenstamm, “Remarks upon the Infinitive Absolute in
Ugaritic and Phoenician,” Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 2 (1969) 53.
On occurrences of the infinitive absolute used as a finite verb in verse, see Moran,
“Hebrew Language,” 62; M. O’Connor, Hebrew Verse Structure (Winona Lake,
Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1980) 170, 181, 210, 227, 289. The unusual construction śāś