1.

The qal wayyiqtol 87

˙

Grammar points

1. The qal wayyiqVol

You’ve already learned two of the basic Biblical Hebrew conjugations, the qaHal
and yiqHol. However, there’s also a third conjugation called the wayyiqVol, which
actually appears more frequently in biblical narrative than either the qaHal or yiqHol.
You saw many examples of the wayyiqHol in the story above. It resembles the qaHal
in that it’s used primarily to convey past actions, but its functions are quite different
from those of the qaHal. Let’s first look at how to form the wayyiqHol, and then return
to its uses.

A. Forming the qal wayyiqvol

Forming the wayyiqHol is easy; it’s composed of the following elements:

Waw + pataF + strong dagesh + yiqHol, i.e. +œ&9’ –Q ™#

The waw here resembles the conjunction waw, but differs in its pointing and the fact
that it appears only as part of the wayyiqHol. This special form of waw has been given
many labels by Biblical Hebrew grammarians. One of the most common is the waw-
consecutive, which we’ll use in this course; however, it’s also called by other names
such as the waw-retentive or (particularly in older grammars) waw-conversive. Here’s
the complete paradigm of the wayyiqHol (which, like the qaHal and yiqHol, is named
after the 3ms form of the paradigm). In order to identify the correct person, gender,
and number of each wayyiqHol form, just look past the waw-consecutive and you’ll see
the prefixes of the yiqHol. Don’t be confused by the fact that the wayyiqHol, which is
used for preterite actions, is formed with the yiqHol, which is used for ongoing, repeated,
present, future, and modal actions – just learn the forms, and then we’ll come back to
the meaning. Note also that you’ve already met the wayyiqHol in previous units: the
very common forms :/
˜ œ QŒ ™#
and '!– ’' ™#
are themselves 3ms qal wayyiqHols, but from
a different type of root from those that we’ve studied so perhaps not immediately
recognizable. There have also been quite a few wayyiqHols in the biblical extracts that
we’ve been reading; you can identify them by the characteristic prefix of waw + pataF
and strong dagesh.
88 Unit Eight

Qal wayyiqVol

Plural Singular

K+&’ 9’ –Q ™# 3mp +œ&9’ –Q ™# 3ms

(and) they killed (and) he killed

! š1+’ œ&Œ 9’ k– ™# 3fp +œ&9’ k– ™# 3fs

(and) they killed (and) she killed

K+&’ 9’ k– ™# 2mp +œ&9’ k– ™# 2ms

(and) you killed (and) you killed

! š1+’ œ&Œ 9’ k– ™# 2fp '+– &’ 9’ k– ™# 2fs

(and) you killed (and) you killed

+œ&9’ –^ ™# 1cp +œ&9’ ˜ š# 1cs

(and) we killed (and) I killed

Points to note:
 Because the first consonant of the 1cs is a guttural, it can’t double when
prefixed by the waw-consecutive; instead, it undergoes compensatory length-
ening and is pointed with qameG.
 Nothing can come between the waw-consecutive and the rest of the verb.
 Roots with a guttural deviate from the above paradigm just as they do in the
yiqHol, e.g. 3/™ f’ –Q ™#
‘(and) he heard’.

F rom now on when new qal strong roots in the qal qaHal, yiqHol, or wayyiqHol
appear in the stories and biblical texts, they won’t be translated in the vocabulary
lists but instead will be parsed, which will allow you to work out the correct meaning
in the context. Verbs from stems and root classes that we haven’t yet studied will
continue to be translated until they’ve been examined in detail.

B. Uses of the wayyiqvol 405 See Reference grammar B3 for summary

i. Preterite actions
The wayyiqHol is generally more straightforward in meaning than the qaHal or yiqHol:
it’s typically used to convey sequences of preterite actions, most commonly in narrative
(but also in dialogue). Think of it as the conjugation whose main job is to advance
 1. The qal wayyiqtol 89
˙

plotlines set in the past: biblical stories (whether narrative or incidents recounted by
characters) are typically composed of a chain of wayyiqHols, each one representing
a link in the whole story; by contrast, qaHals and yiqHols are used when the narrator
or speaker wants to break away from the narrative temporarily in order to provide
some relevant information that doesn’t actually progress the main storyline. The literal
meaning of the wayyiqHol, ‘and then’, may also help to make its function clear. Biblical
Hebrew narrative is often composed of long chains of wayyiqHols, which can continue
indefinitely until something interrupts them (see point C below for examples of the
kinds of things that may cause interruptions). The waw-consecutive may be translated
in a variety of ways depending on what makes the most sense in the context, e.g. ‘then’,
‘so’, ‘and then’, ‘and’, ‘and so’. However, an overly literal translation of such sequences
would be full of ‘and then he said . . . and then he went . . . and then he wrote . . . and
then they said . . .’, which sounds awkward in English. Therefore, it’s often up to the
translator to decide how to interpret these sequences; you might want to vary it a bit,
leaving out the ‘and then’ unless the context seems to require it in English.
Note that because nothing can separate the waw-consecutive from the rest of the
verb, the wayyiqHol always precedes its subject. Similarly, the wayyiqHol cannot be
negated; in order to convey a negative preterite action, the qaHal must be used instead
(see point C below).
Note also that individual wayyiqHol verbs within a sequence need not have the same
subject; rather, each one can have a separate subject, without causing the chain to be
interrupted.

ii. Other types of past action

The wayyiqHol can also be used to indicate other types of past action, e.g. present
perfect and pluperfect. Don’t worry about these less common uses; the context will
usually make clear to you if one of these meanings is intended.

C. Differences in usage between qaval and wayyiqvol

You may now be wondering what the difference is between the qaHal and wayyiqHol
– after all, both are used in preterite contexts, so why is one used sometimes and the
other used other times? There are various explanations for this that you can examine
in detail at a more advanced level. For now, it may be most helpful to think of the
wayyiqHol as the conjugation that serves to advance a storyline, while the qaHal is used
in clauses containing interruptions or deviations from this storyline. Such interruptions
include the following:

 negative clauses/sentences introduced by œ+

 contrast clauses (clauses giving a contrast to what was said previously) introduced
by the conjunction waw with the meaning of ‘but’
90 Unit Eight

 background information about events that had happened before the time of the
main storyline (i.e. pluperfects)
 adverbs (words telling you when, where, or how something happened, e.g. -fš
‘there’)
 direct speech embedded within the narrative (though the wayyiqHol may be used
in a ‘mini-narrative’ sequence found inside direct speech).

Let’s look at a few examples. In the following sequence, the wayyiqHol is used in the
first case, while the qaHal is used in the second case because the intervening adverb
-fš interrupts the narrative chain and ‘blocks’ another wayyiqHol.

Kf ’ 'š -fš ’# !˜ jš !¡+

™ ˜ !Vš +’ ]™ !™ ’# T+˜ ]˜Œ !™ K%:’ –Q’ ™#
The king and the queen fled to the field, and there they lived.

In the next example, the first two wayyiqHols advance the storyline, but are interrupted
by the direct speech of the king; the narrative then resumes with another sequence of
wayyiqHols.

-')– +š ]’ !¡+
™ ˜ :/ ˜ œ QŒ ™# +)'
š !— !¡=
™ ˜ T+˜ ]˜Œ !™ œ96’ –Q ™#
-'+– V— !¡=™ ˜ -k˜ ’ ™1 ’ œ+ ')– 'k– 4’ Œ ™ š' !kš 4™ =L)+š ]’ !¡+ ™ ˜ ’#
'!– ’' ™# =':– ’ K=:’ )’ –Q ™# T+˜ ]˜Œ +™ K%+’ 2’ –Q ™# ª-=œš  !+š )’   š $4— 'V–
ª=L8:š ” !¡+
š )š C’ -L+fš
So the king visited the palace and said to the kings and queens, ‘Now I
know that you did not steal the vessels, because a goat has eaten them’.
Then they forgave the king and made a covenant, and there was peace
in all of the lands.

In the next example, the initial wayyiqHol is interrupted by a sequence that doesn’t
advance the narrative but rather describes what is going on at the same time as the
king’s sequential action of seeing. Note that the qaHal at the end of the extract is
preceded by :f˜ ” (meaning ‘which’) and provides background information (i.e. has
a pluperfect sense); the wayyiqHol could not be used in such a context.

!+š )œ’  $4— !š ’# !˜ jš !™ TL=C’ $4— ! —^!– ’# T+˜ ]˜Œ !™ :’ ™Q ™#
ªK’   š :f˜ ” -'+– V— !¡=
™ ˜
And the king looked, and there was a goat in the middle of the
field, and the goat was eating the vessels which had gone missing.
 3. 'V– introducing causal and complement clauses 91

Finally, in the next example the qaHal must be used because it’s preceded by the negative
particle, and therefore the wayyiqHol would be impossible.

-'+– V— ! =
™ ˜ K1’ 1™Œ š œ+
‘We did not steal the vessels!’

2. '!– ’' ™# introducing temporal clauses

'!– ’' ™#, which you’ve already encountered with the meaning ‘and he was’ or ‘and
there was’, is the 3ms wayyiqHol form of the root !'!, meaning ‘be’. This root is
weak and so conjugates differently from the verbs we’ve studied so far. We won’t
examine it thoroughly until Unit 35, but for now it’s useful to learn the form because
it’s so common. In addition to its uses that you’ve seen in previous units, it’s commonly
found at the beginning of a new section of biblical narrative, immediately preceding
a temporal clause (a phrase giving information about when something happens, e.g.
‘after the banquet’, ‘before the war’; temporal means ‘time-related’). In many English
Bible translations, '!– ’' ™#
in this type of setting is translated as ‘and it came to pass’.
However, it doesn’t really have a precise English equivalent and therefore can be left
untranslated or simply translated as ‘and’. The narrative then continues with one or
more wayyiqHols. You saw an example of this in the story:

=L)+š ]’ !™ ’# -')– +š ]’ !™ K6:’ g’ –Q ™# !k˜ f’ ]– !™ ':— %” ™ '!– ’' ™#

f— Cš :'4– !¡= š ˜
And after the banquet, the kings and queens burned the city.

3. 'V– introducing causal and complement clauses

In previous units you’ve encountered the particle 'V– meaning ‘because’. When 'V– has
this meaning it’s said to be introducing a causal clause, which is, as the name suggests,
a clause (part of a sentence) that indicates the cause of something. However, 'V– also
has several other meanings. The most common of these is following verbs of speaking
and perception (verbs describing speech or mental and emotional states such as ‘know’,
‘hope’, ‘say’, ‘tell’, and ‘fear’). When'V–
follows such verbs, it usually has the meaning
of ‘that’, as in ‘I know that he stole the vessels’. When 'V–
appears in this type of
context, it’s said to be introducing a complement clause (also called content clause or
object clause). You may be wondering how it’s possible to decide which meaning 'V–
has on any given occasion. It’s usually quite easy: if 'V–
is following a verb of speaking
or perception, translate it as ‘that’; otherwise, it’s most likely introducing a causal
92 Unit Eight

clause. Moreover, if you try one translation and it doesn’t seem to make sense, then
the other one is probably correct. You can see this in the following extract from the
story, which contains examples of both uses of 'V–
: the first 'V–
follows a verb of
perception, 'k– 4’ Œ ™ š'
‘I know’, and therefore can be assumed to mean ‘that’, while the
second one doesn’t, and therefore more likely means ‘because’.

$4— 'V– -'+– V— !¡=

™ ˜ -k˜ ’ ™1 ’ œ+ ')– 'k– 4’ Œ ™ š' !kš 4™
ª-=œš  !+š )’   š
‘Now I know that you did not steal the vessels, because a goat
has eaten them.’

'V– can also mean ‘but rather’ and ‘indeed’; these usages will be pointed out as they
appear and discussed in later units. As with many other aspects of Biblical Hebrew
grammar, context will usually determine which is the right meaning, and as you gain
familiarity with the language, it will become easier and easier to distinguish between
the various uses.

4. The particle ! —^!– ’#

In the story above the particle ! —^!– appeared prefixed by the conjunction waw, as
! —^!– ’#. This usage is very common in biblical narrative. It generally appears following
a verb of sight or perception, frequently :’ ™Q ™# ‘and he looked/saw’. As with other
uses of the particle, translation can be a challenge. A phrase such as ! —^!– ’# :’ ™Q ™#
may be translated in a variety of ways conveying the notion of noteworthiness, e.g.
‘and what should he see but . . .’, ‘and he saw to his surprise’, ‘and he was astonished
to see’, or more subtly, ‘and he looked, and there was . . .’ or simply ‘and he saw’ (in
addition to the traditional translation, ‘and he looked, and behold . . .’). Some of these
possibilities are illustrated in the following excerpt from the story:

!˜ jš !™ TL=C’ $4— ! —^!– ’# T+˜ ]˜Œ !™ :’ ™Q ™#

And the king saw to his surprise that there was a goat in the middle of the field!
And the king suddenly saw a goat in the middle of the field!
And the king looked, and there was a goat in the middle of the field!
And what did the king see but a goat in the middle of the field!
And the king looked, and behold, there was a goat in the middle of the field!

In addition, ! —^!– ’#
may appear in contexts not following a verb of sight or perception.
In such cases the particle still seems to indicate that the speaker or writer saw something