An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax

םוֹיּה־ן ַ ִמ
10. םֹשׁ ְל ִשׁ־ם ַגּ לוּמתּ־ם ְ ַגּ
םי ִשׁ ְק בַ ְמ םתיִי ֶ הֱ
ךְ ֶל ֶמ ֫ ל ְ דוִ דּ־ת ָ אֶ
11.
םִי ר֫ ַהֳ
ָצּ ַבּ שׁ ֵשּׁ מַ ְמ תי ָ ִי֫ הָ ְ
12. יהי ִ וִ
. . . ַ
עי ִק ר ָ יהְי ִ
׃םִימ ָ֫
ל ָ םִימ ַ֫
ןיבּ ֵ לידִּ בְ ַמ
2 Kgs 21:15
For some time you have been seeking to make David
king.
2 Sam 3:17
ו You will be groping at midday.
Deut 28:29
Let there be a firmament…(let it be) dividing water
from water.
Gen 1:6
Sometimes the temporal notion seems to be more precisely ‘at just that time…’(##
1314); the aspectual notion may be inchoative (‘begin to…’; # 15).
13. הרֵ ְשׂ ֶע־עבַ ְשׁ־ן ֶבּ ףסוֹי ֵ
. . . ה ֶעֹר הָיה ָ ה ָנ ָשׁ
א ֵבָ יּוַ 14. םחָ ְלנ ִ הָיה ָ םרָ א ֲ ךְ ֶל ֶמוּ ֫
ץ ַעוִּיּ ָ וַ
לא֑ ֵ רָ ְשִׂי בְּ
וידָ בָ ֲע־לאֶ 15. התָ ָמ ֫ רָ ה ָ ה ָנקָ ְלא ֶ ךְ ֶל ֵיּ֫ וַ
הָיה ָ ר ַענּ ַ֫
הַ ו ְ וֹתי ֑ בּ־ל ֵ ַע
הוהי־תא ֶ תרֵ ָשׁ מְ
Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was at one time
tending the flocks…and he brought…
Gen 37:2
The king of Aram being then at war with Israel, he
took counsel with his staff.
2 Kgs 6:8
Elqanah went home to Ramah, and the lad began to
minister to YHWH.
1 Sam 2:11
c In later Biblical Hebrew, the combination היה + participle substitutes for a
perfective verb form; this “periphrastic construction” is probably the result of
Aramaic influence, as Joüon notes.
In the later language one finds the periphrastic לטֹק ֵ הָיה ָ construction with the sense of a
pure perfect he killed.…This free use (or abuse), which is usual in post-biblical Hebrew, is
due to the influence of Aramaic. In that language the periphrastic construction, which asserts
itself for a curative or frequentative action (cf. Dan 5:19) is also employed, very freely, for an
instantaneous or unique act. 52
Lacking firm formal criteria to distinguish the full range of roles noted here, we
must sometimes hesitate over identifying precise nuances.
52 Joüon §121g / pp. 340–41; cf. G. Bergsträsser, Introduction to the Semitic
Languages, trans. and sup. P. T, Daniels (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1983)
84.