xliv. 22 may be best considered under this head, though the Perfects in them may be modified by the Waw. eaten to-day the sin offering, would it have been good in the 2. Modified Imperfect in Protasis is followed in the Apodosis by: the man said unto him, &c., then he would say," &c. b. The Modified Imperfect; "And if And if thou" וַתְּמָאֵן .. אָנֹכִי הרג refuse to let him go, behold I will slay thy son." 3. With Imperfect in Protasis, followed in the Apodosis by: "When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their place, and when Samaria and her daughters return to their place, then thou and thy daughters shalt return to your place." "If thou shalt return and obey the voice of the Lord d. By a a second clause in which the verb is understood; T "If I say, surely darkness shall cover me, then the night is light about me." 4. The Modified Perfect in Protasis. This is of the most common occurrence of all forms of conditional sentences with Waw. We may have in the Apodosis either: a. Another Modified Perfect, which is the usual construction. ye return to me, and keep my commandments though, &c. . . yet from thence will I gather them." 5. The Voluntative in Protasis: e. g., P's. cxxxix. 8b::po hay nyss "If I make Sheol my bed, behold Thee!" The verb in the Protasis is sometimes omitted, or instead of it we find In the Apodosis we may have: or יש אֵין neighbor, go and come again and to-morrow I will give, if thou said, 'If not, let Amnon, my brother, come with us.'"* CLASS III. More commonly, however, conditional sentences are introduced by special particles,,, and its compound or and may introduce any kind of condition, and its compounds are used when the condition is viewed as impossible or as contrary to reality. There is great diversity in the use of tenses after these particles, although the vast majority of instances fall under only a few heads. The Imperfect is the favorite tense in the Protasis; and the Modified Perfect (Relatively progressive Perfect, bezuglich fortschreitendes Perfectum), the favorite tense in the Apodosis when the supposition is a simple one. *A better reading in this passage would be "And would that now my brother Amnon," &c. The Perfect is, however, frequently found in the Protasis in cases where it is difficult at first sight to detect any reason for prefering it to the Imperfect; usually, however, it refers to the completion of the condition either in past time or in future time viewed as past from the standpoint of the second clause. The use of the Perfect in Protasis is much more common after N than after, and is the most common use after and its compounds. The Infinitive construct is also found in the Protasis after ex, in simple suppositions, and may be followed in the Apodosis by either Perfect or Imperfect as required. This use, however, is very rare. The Participle is found in the Protasis several times after N,, and. It is most frequently followed in the Apodosis by the Voluntative Jussive or Imperative, but also by Imperfect with, Imperfect, or by another Participle. In asseverations and are used, with the respective signifi cations of surely not and surely, with an ellipsis of second clause, which may be supplied as "God do so to me and more also," or other form of imprecation. This second clause is sometimes expressed. In this use the Imperfect most commonly occurs, but also the Perfect several times, and in several instances the verb is omitted, or its place supplied by or Often the verb in the Protasis has to be understood. Its place is sometimes supplied, as above mentioned, by or, but frequently it is simply omitted. With this use in the Protasis, the Apodosis most commonly will have either an Imperfect (or Modified Perfect or a Voluntative (Cohortative, Jussive, Imperative. The Perfect and the Participle are, however, also found, (though rarely. The Compound Particle presents some difficult constructions. It may frequently be rendered "but if,” or “for if," or "that if," or "unless," in all of which cases the conditional character is apparent; but it frequently, also, seems to lose its conditional force, and to become, when used with nouns, a preposition with the meaning of "except,” "save," and when used with verbs will have the sense of “but," "only"; i.e., strongly adversative like the German “sondern." In the first of these cases, when used with nouns, it is only necessary to understand the substantive verb as omitted, or to supply the verb which follows, and the conditional character will be clear, and the force and value of the particle will be apparent; e. g., Gen. xxxix. 6: "And he Potiphar) knew not ought he had save the bread which he did eat."-This is equal to "he knew not ought he had except but if) it were the bread," &c., or " unless he knew the bread." But when appears before a verb, and the conditional character is not apparent, it will be necessary to resort to an ellipsis to explain the use of the particle. Thus we have in Jer. vii. 22, 23: "For I spake not to your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices; but (C) this thing commanded I them," &c. Here the ellipsis to be supplied will perhaps be "But (if or when) I gave them any commands, this I commanded them." So also in Feremiah xvi. 14, 15: Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but (C) The Lord liveth that brought up," &c. Here also there is evidently an ellipsis to be supplied; "but if, or when, (anything of the kind is said, it shall be said) The Lord liveth," &c. The presence of cannot be purposeless, and the particle, at some period at least of the history of the language, must have had a sensible value, though it is not necessary to suppose that the Hebrews were very conscious of any special force at the comparatively late period in which the books of the Old Testament were written. some instances In can hardly be distinguished from 2, e. g., 2 Sam. xv. 21, Prov. xxiii. 17, Jer. xxxi. 30. CLASS III. First Clause introduced by a Conditional Particle ( by: a. When introduced by s I. We have most commonly the Imperfect in the Protasis followed righteous men in Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake." So most frequently, when the verb is the first word in the second clause. When any other word intervenes, we have b. The Imperfect; e. g., Gen. xviii. 28, et passim: Es is "I will not destroy it if I find forty and five." c. The Perfect may also stand in the second clause, though rarely found: house, the builders of it will have labored in vain upon it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman will have watched in vain." d. Very rarely the Modified Imperfect; e. g., Ps. lix. 16b: WELS ON "If they be not satis fied, they remain all night." e. Frequently a Voluntative (Cohortative, Jussive or Imperative); e. g., Ps. cxxxvii. 5: mewn news cs "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning." So also v. 6, and frequently. Here the verb is Jussive; for Imperative, which is a rarer con "If thou art able to answer me, set (thy words) in order before me, stand up." (Here also belong second clauses with). f. With Participle in the second clause (rare); " For though" כִּי אִם־תְּכַבְּסִי e. g., Fer. ii. 22: thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much sope, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God." g. Without any verb expressed in second clause; e. g., Ps. cxxxix. 8: nas cy Drew PRSTON אם־לא יאמרוּ "If I ascend up to heaven, Thou art there." So also, though not so frequently, with or e. g., Is. viii. 20: לוֹ "To the law and the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, they are of those for whom is no morning." h. With second clause omitted by Aposiopesis; e. g., Ex. xxxii. 32a: forgive their sins—.” 2. Perfect in the Protasis: "And now, if Thou wilt a. With Perfect or Modified Imperfect in the second clause (rare); said, 'I will speak thus,' behold I should have offended against e. g., Ps. lxxiii. 15. Perfect: thou sawest a thief, then consentedst thou with him." b. With Modified Perfect or Imperfect in second clause; e. g., Deut. xxi. 14. Modified Perfect: "And it shall come to pass, if thou hast no delight in her, that thou shalt send her away," &c. אִם־הֲבִיאנְם "But we will go armed before the children of Israel, until we have brought them to their place." |