The deficiencies of the Hebrew tenses and moods are at least partially remedied by the peculiar usage of the conversive 】 (§ 49), which is employed to intimate, with various degrees of distinctness, many relations of the verb, which it would otherwise be difficult to convey. For the future with conversivum denotes

1. Sometimes the simple PAST; e.g. (Ruth i. 1) it was.a 2. But more usually it includes the conjunction and; e. g. i jun (Job vi. 1) and Job answered and said; it is indeed the common and ordinary tense for narratives; it marks an advance or progress in the events related, and, therefore, follows frequently after a simple preterite; e. g. And Sarah bore no children (1)...and Sarah said (N) to Abram (Gen. xvi. 1, 2): b and as the facts are in Hebrew, for the greatest part, simply co-ordinated, it is of the most frequent occurrence, especially in the historical style. It is used even when an adverbial term signifying time or place or the like precedes; e. g. in the year of the death of the king I saw, etc; or when the NINI subject, in an absolute sense, begins the proposition (§ 75. 5); e.g. Möbw bbyy...Dqua (1 Kings ix. 21) as regards their children... Solomon brought them up.d

...

It is also further employed in several of the meanings of the preterite. For it denotes

3. The PLUPERFECT; e.g. 'v'awn Di'a impxbp bubby (Gen.

ii. 2) God had finished His work on the seventh day.

.Gen) אֱלֹהִים

4. The PRESENT, if another verb with the same sense precedes; e.g. Behold the king, weeps (5) and mourns (1) over Absalom (2 Samuel xix. 2); 72" xy! pr? (Job xiv. 2) he comes forth like a flower and withers; (ver. 10) man dies and wastes

away.f

: זן

5. The USUAL or CUSTOMARY ACTION; e. g. The Lord brings down (i) into the grave and brings up (1 Sam. ii. 6).

6. The FUTURE, in animated or prophetic diction; e.g. wi'n Savin (Isai. v. 15) and man will be humbled.a

7. It is also used in the second part of propositions beginning with conjunctions; e.g. when they approached before the Lord they

(23 .Sam. xv 1) יַעַן מָאַסְתָּ אֶת־דְּבַר יְהוָה וַיִּמְאָסְךְ ;(1 .died (Lev. xvi

because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected thee;b and even in the second part of condițional sentences; e.g. if thou hadst listened to My commandments thy peace would

be like a river (Isai. xlviii. 18).

8. However, the preterite is chosen, and not the future with ↑ conversivum

(q.) Of course always in relative sentences, as --EN 10 D (Eccl. viii. 15) the days of his life which God has given him. (b.) When a fact is simply stated to have occurred in the past time, without any reference to another event; e.g. In the beginning God created() the heaven and the earth (Genesis i. 1); Jerusalem has

Job) אִישׁ הָיָה בְאֶרֶץ עוּץ ; (נָפַל) and Judah is fallen (כָּשְׁלָ) sunle

i. 1) There was a man in the land of Uz.a

(c.) If, indeed, such connection exists, yet the chief stress does not lie on the verb, but either on the subjective or objective case, or on an adverb or an adverbial term, or on any other word, which for that reason precedes the verb (§ 74.5); e. g. and the Lord brought back () the waters of the sea upon the Egyptians, but the children of Israel went (1) on dry land through the sea (Exodus xv. 19); he built a tower in it, and also made a winepress in it ("D!

9.(2 .Isai. v יֶקֶב חָצֵב בּוֹ

(d.) Hence also if a contemporary or subsequent action is to be contrasted with another one mentioned before; e.g. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of waters He called seas (?

Comp. Gen. xxiv. 1; Judg. iv. 2 Sam. xxiv. 11, etc.

e

4;

Compare Gen. ii. 20; xxxiii. 7; Exod. xv. 22; 1 Ki. ii 24, 35; Psalm lxxviii. 31; Job v. 20; xi. 20; xix. 27; xxxviii. 10.

,וְיוֹסֵף אָמַר Gen.i.10); they had left ohen Joseph said ,מַיִם קָרָא יַמִּים Ki. xiv. 17) she came to the) הִיא בָאָה בְסֵף הַבַּיִת וְהַנַּעַר מֵת ;(4.xliv

threshold of the house, and the boy died (that is, when she came, etc.).a

(e.) Further, if a verb is followed by an explanatory or qualifying remark, or a parenthesis, so that the narrative does not advance,,or is interrupted in its course; e.g. And the sons of Jesse went (171):

Sam. xvii. 13); and he came 1 הָלְכוּ אַחֲרֵי שָׁאוּל) they cent after Saul וְחֶבְרוֹן נִבְנְתָה) to Hebron - now Hebron was built

seven years before

a Compare Gen. xxvii. 30; xxxviii. | xxvi. 19; see also Genesis vii. 6,

25; Ex. x. 13; Judg. iii. 24; 1 Sam. ix. 11; 2 Ki. ii. 23; iv. 40; vi. 5, 26; Job i. 16; Esth. vi. 4; 2 Chr. xiii. 15;

xix. 4; xxii. 1; 2 Ki. x. 13.

10:

b Comp. Gen. i. 27; xxi. 14; Num. xi. 32; 1 Sam. vi. 12; Isai. vi. 6.

§ 96. THE PAST AND FUTURE WITH

1. If is prefixed to the PRETERITE, it often indicates mere conNECTION; hence the past with ! coincides, as regards time and mood, ? with the verb immediately preceding, whether this has the signification of a past or present, or implies a wish or command; and it follows

(4 .Isai. xli) מִי־פָעַל וְעָשָׂה .especially often after an imperative; e. g Exod. xxi. 16) he who), גּוֹנֵב אִישׁ וּמְכָרוֹ ? echo has worked and done Deut. iv. 1) that you) לְמַעַן תִּחְיוּ וּבָאתֶם ; steals a man and sells him (2 .Levit. i) דַּבֵּר אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵיהֶם ;may live and come

speak to the children of Israel and say to them.a

2. But generally the preterite with conversivum denotes the

וְהָיָה .FUTURE, either including the conjunction and or not; e. g : Isaiah ii. 2) and it will happen in later days) בְּאַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים Deut. xxxi. 4) and the Lord will), וְעָשָׂה יְהוָה לָהֶם כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְסִיחֹן

(6 .Isai. xxvii) יָצִיץ וּפָרַח יִשְׂרָאֵל ; do to them as He has done to Silhon

Israel will blossom and bud.b It takes, therefore, some of the significations belonging to the future, and is used :—

Comp. Gen. ii. 6; iii. 22; vi. 21; xxi. 25; xlv. 9; Exod. iii. 16; xii. 32 ; xvi. 21; Num. xv. 40; Josh. vi. 13; Judg. v. 26; 1 Sam. vi. 7, 8; ix. 5; xvii. 20, 34, 35; 2 Ki. xiv. 7; Isaiah i. 8; vi. 3, 9; Jer. xviii. 4; xix. 4, 5;

(Amos iv. 7) and I caused to rain;

וְהִמְטַרְתִּי see $ 49.5). Exceptions are

.Jer. vi. 17) and I raised up) וַהֲקִימוֹתִי | ;1,7.xxxvii. 15; Prov. vii. 13; Eccl. iv

Daniel viii. 4; Ezra viii. 30, 36, etc. b Comp. Gen. xvii. 20; Deut. xv.
When the preterite with | has the
meaning of the past, when therefore
the is not conversivum, the verb

6;

| xix. 8; Judges i. 12; vii. 18; 1 Sam,
ix. 8; Isai. i. 19, 31; xxx. 26; Ruth
ii. 19, etc.