B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

We read there
וּמֹשֶׁה יִקַּח אֶת הָאֹהֶל וְנָטָה לוֹ מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה
KJV: "And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp"
with יִקַּח = היא-קח, with the initial PP היא standing for Moses, the performer of the act קח.

NIV sees more to יִקַּח than a mere "took", it translates:
NIV: "Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp".

Rashi says toיִקַּח
לשון הווה הוא

Isaac Fried, Boston University

I notice that the Blue Letter Bible
https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/exo ... conc_83007
parses יִקַּח of Ex. 33:7 as
Stem: Qal
Aspect: Imperfect

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Isaac Fried wrote:I notice that the Blue Letter Bible
https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/exo ... conc_83007
parses יִקַּח of Ex. 33:7 as
Stem: Qal
Aspect: Imperfect

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Yes, another way one might translate this is, Now Moses would take the tent and pitch it outside the camp. Although וּמֹשֶׁה really carries more of a as for Moses, he would take... kind of feel.

Isaac Fried wrote:We read there
וּמֹשֶׁה יִקַּח אֶת הָאֹהֶל וְנָטָה לוֹ מִחוּץ לַמַּחֲנֶה
KJV: "And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp"
with יִקַּח = היא-קח, with the initial PP היא standing for Moses, the performer of the act קח.

NIV sees more to יִקַּח than a mere "took", it translates:
NIV: "Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp".

Rashi says toיִקַּח
לשון הווה הוא

Isaac Fried, Boston University

I think it's far more likely that yi is older than hii or huu. A very old Bantu form of the 3rd person is yu. The 3rd person subject prefix is ya- in Luyia, a Bantu language that preserves very old bantu forms. The modern self-standing 3rd personal pronoun is yeye.

In spoken Hebrew היא and הוּא are almost universally contracted now to but the vowels I and U, to wit, אִי אמרה לי, 'she told me', and אוּ אמר לי, 'he said to me'.

What is interesting about Ex. 33:7 is the digging that it brings about for some further qualifiers on the modality of the action hinted in the choice of the verbal form יִקַּח in place of לקח. Is it just "took", or is it "used to take", or is it "would take"?
Or is it but a fractured wayqtal, וּמֹשֶׁה יִקַּח in place of ויקח משה?

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Another similar instance is to be found in Ps. 106:19
יַעֲשׂוּ עֵגֶל בְּחֹרֵב וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲווּ לְמַסֵּכָה
NIV: "At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal."

Are there other such instances?

Isaac Fried, Boston University