Page:Introductory Hebrew Grammar- Hebrew Syntax (1902).djvu/88

 simple perf. Gen. 1:5 וַיִּקְרָא לָאוֹר ··· וְלַחשֶׁךְ קָרָא. Gen. 4:4, 5 וַיִּשַׁע י׳ אֶל־הֶבֶל וְאֶל־קַיִן לֹא שָׁעָה  and Je. had respect to Abel, but to Cain he had not respect.

As to the kind of connexion between the preceding and vav impf. the latter may express either what is strictly consequential, or what is merely successive in time, or what is only successive in the mind of the speaker. In the last case the event or fact expressed by vav impf. may really be identical with the preceding event, and a repetition of it, or synchronous with it, or even anterior to it; the speaker expresses them in the order in which they occur to him, so that the and is merely connective, though the form retains its conversive meaning. Gen. 40:23 לֹא זָכַר ··· וַיִּשְׁכָּחֵֽהוּ  he remembered not Joseph, and forgat him; Jud. 16:10 הֵתַלְתָּ בִּי וַתְּדַבֵּר אֵלַי כְּזָבִים  thou hast cheated me, and told me lies. With vav perf., Jud. 14:12 אִם הַגֵּד תַּגִּידוּ לִי וּמְצָאתֶם  if ye will tell it me, and find it out. After עשׂה  to do, vav impf. is often merely explanatory, 1 K. 18:13. את אשׁר עָשִׂימִי וָֽאַחְבִּא  what I did and hid, &c. Gen. 31:26, Ex. 1:18; 19:4, Jud. 9:16, 1 K. 2:5, 2 Chr. 2:2, cf. Neh. 13:17. 2 S. 14:5 I am a widow וַיָּֽמָת אִישִׁי  and my husband is dead. Jud. 2:21 אשׁר עָזַב יהו׳ וַיָּמתֹ  which Joshua left and died. So vav impf. often merely sums up the result of a preceding narrative, Jud. 3:30 וַתִּכָּנַע מוֹאָב  so Moab was subdued; 8:28.

§ 48. (a) Vav impf. continues a perf. in sense of Eng. past; and it is usual in this sense in narrative, although no perf. actually precedes. Gen. 3:13 הַנָּחָשׁ הִשִּׁיאַנִי וָֽאֹכֵל  the serpent deceived me, and I ate. 4:1; 7:19, 1 S. 15:24. With neg., Gen. 4:5 unto Cain לֹא שָׁעָה וַיִּחַר לְקַיִן מְאֹד  he had not respect, and C. was very angry. Gen. 8:9, Jer. 20:17, Job 3:10; 32:3 did not find an answer and condemn (so as to condemn). With interrog., Gen. 12:19. — When