Ha'nishma in Neh 13:27

[TYA]

Why would הֲנִשְׁמַע in Neh 13:27 be tagged as *perfect* tense, as HMT-W4 has it, instead of imperfect?

[Kristin]

Hi TYA,

For what it is worth, it looks perfect to me.

 

Kristin

[Donald Cobb]

Hi TYA, it's interesting to look at CDH for this: it's listed as a niph'al, 3d pers., sing., perfect—"unless" it's a Qal, 1st pers., plur., imperfect, which BTW is how the LXX read it (καὶ ὑμῶν μὴ ἀκουσόμεθα). HALOT also lists the two possibilities.

 

 

Edited October 15, 2021 by Donald Cobb

[TYA]

Thanks both Kristin and Donald.

 

Donald: I was indeed aware of the common occurrence in Niphal perf. 3rd masc. sing., but that certainly doesn't fit in Neh 13:27.   All Jewish translations read "Shall we hear you?" / "Should we listen to you?" which is clearly Qal imperfect 1st common plural.  The perfect form would be שמענו (unless I'm missing something major), so why does HMT-W4 tag it as "perfect"?

Edited October 15, 2021 by TYA

[Donald Cobb]

9 hours ago, TYA said:

I was indeed aware of the common occurrence in Niphal perf. 3rd masc. sing., but that certainly doesn't fit in Neh 13:27.   All Jewish translations read "Shall we hear you?" / "Should we listen to you?" which is clearly Qal imperfect 1st common plural.  The perfect form would be שמענו (unless I'm missing something major), so why does HMT-W4 tag it as "perfect"?

 

The translations do differ, not so much the English ones, but the French (Segond, etc.) treat it as an impersonal verb. Here's what DCH says for the niph'al: "לָכֶם הֲנִשְׁמַע לַעֲשֹׂת for you is it heard of to do, i.e. that you should do, all this great evil? Ne 13₂₇ (unless shall we listen to you to, i.e. and, do?, i.e. qal)."

 

Looking again at the tagging, I see that BHS and MT-ETCBC have it as a perfect, third person singular. I hadn't noticed that the HMT-4 labels it as a 1st pers., plur. perfect. I haven't been using the HMT-4 very much as of late, which is why I didn't pick up on that. I would guess that it's a simple mistake in the tagging.

 

 

Edited October 16, 2021 by Donald Cobb

[Iconoclaste]

Looks like a mistake in the tagging to me! The only way it could be a perfect is if it is a 3ms perfect nifal.

Edited October 27, 2021 by Iconoclaste