Barry, In addition to John Cook's book, you might want to check out Joosten's new book on the Hebrew verb: The Verbal System of Biblical Hebrew: A New Synthesis Elaborated on the Basis of Classical Prose by Jan Joosten Jerusalem Biblical Studies - JBS 10 Simor, Ltd., 2012
The Hebrew verbal system is the subject of a large amount of disagreement right now, so finding a consensus will be difficult…but I would say that most/all would agree with you that there is no "prophetic perfect" encoding. The context is what determines the interpretation. HTH, James ________________________________ James Spinti E-mail marketing, Book Sales Division Eisenbrauns, Good books for more than 35 years Specializing in Ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies jspinti at eisenbrauns dot com Web: http://www.eisenbrauns.com Phone: 260-445-3118 Fax: 574-269-6788 On Dec 2, 2012, at 2:03 AM, George Athas wrote: > Barry, > > I'm with you. I don't think there is such a thing as a prophetic perfect. > However, I think this because I do not believe that the Qatal is encoded for > perfective aspect. I would instead argue for it encoding a 'definite' (as > opposed to indefinite) aspect. Its functional usage usually refers to the > past, but this is not intrinsic to the verb form itself. Rather, it has to do > with its syntax and context. The Qatal breaks momentum in a narrative, and > this is usually caused by a break in the narrative to give some significant > information (usually something in the past). However, the Qatal in and of > itself doesn't preclude the possibility of the verb referring to the future. > However, given its functional usage, this would be highly irregular. > > You should check out the new book on the Hebrew verb by John Cook published > by Eisenbrauns (though I disagree with John's perfective–imperfective aspect > polarity), as well as articles by Alexander Andrason. > > > GEORGE ATHAS > Dean of Research, > Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au) > Sydney, Australia > > > _______________________________________________ > b-hebrew mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
