George, if I understand you correctly, I agree...
But I would like to add a point which may apply
to similar discussions on similar topics: Ps. 1
is a poem.
Somebody once calculated that a large
part of the HB consists of poetic texts.
Linguistic rules, including syntactical,
which may apply to prose, do not necessarily
apply to poems.
Returning to Ps. 1, one must keep in mind that
for over two thousand years readers of this poem
in the original took its meaning for granted.
Modern grammatical analysis does not
necessarily add to such understanding.
Uri Hurwitz Great Neck, NY
Yes, Galia's term modus irrealis captures the sense of the Yiqtol well for the
most part. I'm not sure it's the best term for understanding the habitual past
action that the Yiqtol can often convey, but it is a very good term,
nonetheless.
I wouldn't equate the Weqatal with this, however. Weqatal is simply a
continuation or adjunct verb, much like the participle in Greek. In my opinion
it's actually just a Qatal with a plain conjunction on the front. The
conjunction does something important syntactically, but the verb as a whole
does not, in my estimation, convey modus irrealis. If it does, the Qatal itself
must also convey modus irrealis. But it doesn't.
GEORGE ATHAS
Director of Postgraduate Studies,
Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)
Sydney, Australia
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