21st Century Bible Hebrew -- imperfect aspect examples part 5

The uses of imperfect aspect are as follows.

1.                  vav plus imperfect in VS order is “narrative past”, used within an episode to track the progress of the plot.

2.                  vav plus subject plus imperfect is a relative or coordinate clause.

3.                  without vav in SV order is possibly a true future tense usage.

4.                  without vav may also be an imperfect of process; this first turns up in Leviticus and may be a clue to the relationship between imperfect and progressive aspects.

5.                  vav plus imperfect in the 2nd singular or plural define the generalized or definitional envelope of commandments or refer to a known cultural feature.

6.                  in the 3rd person, in portions about sacrificial ritual, imperfect provides the framework for the ritual actions like the generalization envelope for a k’lal u-prat [u-k’lal] structure.

7.                  Preceded by ki or im is the “if” clause in a law, usually a tort. Again, this is an envelope to a klal uprat [uklal] structure.

8.                  part of a parallel structure in poetry and prophecy following a perfect verb as a parallel. They will not use the same verb root and sometimes not the same binyan.

Number 8 is probably more common in Psalms and the prophetic books, but here’s one example in Genesis 49:9.

ט גּ֤וּר אַרְיֵה֙ יְהוּדָ֔ה מִטֶּ֖רֶף בְּנִ֣י עָלִ֑יתָ כָּרַ֨ע רָבַ֧ץ כְּאַרְיֵ֛ה וּכְלָבִ֖יא מִ֥י יְקִימֶֽנּוּ:

Yehudah is a lion cub, from the carcass, my son, you rose up; you stooped crouching like a lion and like a lioness who will raise him?

So alita and ravats in this verse are perfect aspect, and the final imperfect aspect coordinates with alita but contrasts with the other two verbs in the same clause – notice there’s an etnach in there.

This is an actual future use of imperfect aspect in the correct SV order: mi is the subject of y’qimenu.

Aside from this, the “permissive/prescriptive” is based on imperfect, mostly as tokhelu which you saw in the Gan Eden narrative.