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Special Issue IOSOT 2013 - Books and Journals

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40 S. Japhet / Vetus Testamentum <strong>IOSOT</strong> (<strong>2013</strong>) 36-76<br />

I. Linguistic Opposition<br />

1. Formation of the Imperfect Consecutive<br />

The form of the impf. cons. is attained through the prefixing of the Wāw cons.<br />

to the jussive. This means that, wherever possible, the short form of the impf.<br />

is used <strong>and</strong> the tone is retracted.19 In 1 pers. sing. the use of the short form<br />

<strong>and</strong> the retraction of the tone occur more rarely, <strong>and</strong> the full form of the impf.<br />

is used.20<br />

In late biblical Hebrew the distinction between the short <strong>and</strong> the full forms<br />

of the impf. is gradually lost.21 Thus, the two forms alternate in the formation of<br />

‎22‎‏.ויעלה <strong>and</strong> ויעל the impf. cons. <strong>and</strong> we have, for example, both<br />

This phenomenon is found in Ezr.-Neh. <strong>and</strong> Daniel, as well as in the Samaritan<br />

Pentateuch23 <strong>and</strong> the Isaiah Scroll.24 There is, in fact, only one exception<br />

to the general picture: the book of Chr., contrary to the general tendency of the<br />

period, uses clearly <strong>and</strong> systematically only the short form of the impf. in the<br />

formation of the impf. cons.<br />

ל״ה A. Verbs<br />

The Chr. follows two basic rules:<br />

a) Whenever the impf. cons. is represented in his sources by the full form of<br />

the impf. the form is changed <strong>and</strong> shortened. It appears thus in his sources<br />

six times25 <strong>and</strong> the rule is rigidly observed: 1 Chr. xi 17 // 2 Sam. xxiii 15<br />

19) Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar, edited by E. Kautzsch, translated by A. E. Cowley, 1910, § 49d,<br />

pp. 133-134; P. Joüon, Grammaire de l’Hebreu Biblique, 1947, § 47a, pp. 105-106.<br />

20) Gesenius, op. cit., § 49e, p. 134, Joüon, § 47d, p. 106.<br />

21) This is one aspect of a more general process of losing the distinction between the moods,<br />

which reached its fulfillment in the new verbal system of Mishnaic Hebrew. Cf. G. Bergsträsser,<br />

Hebräische Grammatik, 1926 II § 101, p. 50; Kutscher, op. cit., pp. 30, 251 <strong>and</strong> M. H. Segal, A Grammar<br />

of Mishnaic Hebrew, 1927, p. 150ff.<br />

etc. ‏.‏Jer‏—ויעלה x 13, etc. frequently‏—ויעל 2 Chr. i 6, iii 6, 14 22)<br />

23) A. Sperber: “Hebrew based upon Biblical Passages in Parallel Transmission”. HUCA, XIV,<br />

1939, § 49, pp. 187-189.<br />

24) Kutscher, op. cit., pp. 252-253.<br />

25) Actually seven, but once it is changed differently: 1 Ki. x 29: ותעלה ותצא מרכבה ממצרים 2 chr.<br />

‏.ויעלו ויוציאו ממצרים :17 i<br />

The Qal is changed into Hif ʿil. This is one of the characteristics of the Chr. Cf. Kropat, op. cit.,<br />

pp. 14-15, Gerleman, op. cit., p. 18 <strong>and</strong> further p. 350, n. 2. The second change from singular to<br />

plural is also typical. Cf. Kropat, p. 8ff.

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