Search

In the grammatical terminology of Biblical Hebrew pre-verbal waw has been given numerous functional epithets. Besides consecutive waw, it is also called inversive, coordinate, conversive, copulative, etc. (Ewald 1870:593–599, 839–847; Driver 1892:70–99; König 1897:509–512, 493–520; GKC 132–135, 306–307; Meyer 1969–1972:II, 113–116, III, 103–104; Waltke-O’Connor 1990:519–542, 543–563; Joüon-Muraoka 2006:357–379). And this terminological diversity becomes even greater when one includes not only waw before a verb form but also before a noun or an adverbial…

In Biblical Hebrew (BH), the temporal clause takes many different forms. First, the temporal clause can either (a) follow the main clause or (b) precede it. The first possibility, i.e., (a) main clause + temporal clause, follows the usual word order in BH, while the second possibility, i.e., (b) temporal clause + main clause, differs from it and is represented by a variety of different constructions. Among these latter are cases where the temporal clause is introduced by ‏וַיְהִי wa-yhī or ‏וְהָיָה wə-hå̄yå̄. Second, the temporal specification in question can take the form of…

In modern linguistics the result clause is described as expressing “the notion of consequence or effect” (Crystal 2003:398), while for many scholars of Biblical Hebrew (BH) it is usually thought to include the notion of purpose, because “expression of purpose and consequence are not always readily distinguished” (Waltke and O’Connor 1990:638), or, even when they are distinguished, this is not always done properly (see Ewald 1870:825–827, 855–856; Driver 1892:66–69; König 1897:538–539, 570–574; G…