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Blessed (is) the man who HATH not WALKED in the counsel of the wicked, and HATH not STOOD in the way of sinners, and HATH not RESIDED in the habitation of the scorners;

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: An intelligent son KEEPS the law; but he who ATTENDS upon base men, PUTS his father to shame;

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4,

An

on which an opinion is founded, the effect is the same in either case. Englishman will commonly state the opinion, as 'Force cannot cope with fortune:' and a Persian will be often disposed to state the facts on which the opinion is founded as 'The strong have been generally foiled in the contest with fortune.' This, therefore," adds he, "is a case in which the past may be

said to supersede the future tense of the verb." Example;

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retire and dwell in a corner, like the ant; for even the elephant (which is the strongest of all animals) cannot master (has not mastered) his fortune by force." Pers. Gram., vol. ii. p. 326.

The Arabic Grammarians endeavour to account for this use of the verb, which they say must be taken as in the present tense, by saying, that we have here, sl, by which they mean the retention of au event in

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the mind, which although past, as to fact, is nevertheless present in effect; as,

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اشتریت I have sold, and am now dispossessed of the thing sold بعت

I have bought, and do possess, &c., whereas, when we use the present tense in such cases, the thing sold, bought, &c. may be, or not, now in our possession. So we say in English, I AM come, he is gone, not I HAVE come, he HAS gone.

c., The& נָחָה שָׁקְטָה כָּל־הָאָרֶץ פָּצְחוּ רְנָה ;7 .And in Hebrew, Is. xiv

whole land is at rest, it is quiet (has been), they BREAK forth (into) singing (have broken forth). See also some of the following verses. This, however,

הָלַךְ יָדַע יָכֹל חָכָם mostly takes place in intransitive verbs, such as ,קטן,גָדֵל

or the like.-See Viger. de idiot. Græc., p. 166. Edit. 1813, with the notes also p. 163.

A A

riches PROFIT not in the day of wrath; but righteousness DELIVERS from death.

238. Hypothetical sentences, which are very nearly allied to the foregoing, will be enounced either in the past or present tense, according to one or other of the preceding rules, or as it shall suit the intention of the writer. Ex

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(that) thou hast done to us? some one of the people MIGHT lightly HAVE LAIN with thy wife, so thou wOULDEST HAVE BROUGHT Sin upon us; Ib. xxvii. 12, 218

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Perhaps my father MAY FEEL me; (or, putting the case that he feels me) so SHALL I (certainly) BECOME as a great deceiver in his eyes, and SHALL (surely) BRING upon myself a curse and not a blessing; Prov.

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&c., My son, if thou HAST BECOME Surety for thy neighbour, if thou HAST STRICKEN thy hand with a strangér.

do this, &c.; Gen. xxviii. 20, &c., TAY DUN YOYON

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18, &c., i. e. as assuredly as that God is with me, and HATH PRESERVED me in this way in which I am (now) travelling, and HATH (hitherto) GIVEN me bread to eat and clothing to put on; so assuredly SHALL I RETURN to my father's house in peace, and Jehovah SHALL assuredly CONTINUE my God; and this stone, &c.*

Is.

* This passage has been entirely misunderstood. It contains an oath, or vow, which is the same thing. This usage of the preterite in the Hebrew, as in the Arabic, generally designates oaths; and the principle upon which these are constructed is, by taking something which is most certain as a basis, and then by comparing the subsequent terms with it. See Heb. vi. 13-19. And the

Ixiii. 19, Tap: bij D'O THED ATT DYOW AUDRINIS :?? ja HADST thou RENT the heavens, HADST thou DESCENDED, HAD the mountains BEEN REDUCED before thee; then the nations HAD TREMBLED before thee;* Lev. x. 19,

Moolla Jámi on Ibn Ulhájib, pp. v. These forms, therefore, imply no curse or ban, as the forms of cursing do which run thus, God do so to &c.

me,

, זָלַל as the Niphal of

* In translating this passage, I have taken abi to which it seems to me most properly to belong, (see Simonis's Lexicon sub voce,) and as a particle implying supposition with a negation, according to its most usual import both in Hebrew and Arabic. It should also be observed, that in the first and two last examples, the preterite is used, as in the statement of general opinions, and for the reasons assigned by Mr. Lumsden. The particles preceding such expressions may always be considered as intended to put a suppositious case; or, in other words, to lay down a general fact as accidental, and then to deduce the consequence: which may be stated, either in the past or present tense, as circumstances may require. Of this character are

لَا عَرَفْنَاكَ لَفَعَلْنَا مِثْلَ ذَالِكَ ; the following Arabic examples

HAD we

not KNOWN thee, we HAD (surely) DONE after this manner; or, we should (surely) HAVE DONE SO, taking the second member as a future of certainty with

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HADST thou BEEN here,

ވ

لم يمت اخي ; respect to the first لو كنت هاهنا

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DONE this, I SHOULD SURELY HAVE LOST my wealth; ils lil

9

DIDI تبيض بيضتين

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DID I INCREASE her food, she WOULD (probably) LAY TWO eggs: i. e. putting the case that if I had done so, then she would perhaps lay, &c. De Sacy's Gram. Arab., vol. i. p. 124, &c.

The Persian examples selected by Mr. Lumsden seem to me all subject to this distinction, i. e. of certainty or contingency, and to have been enounced ac

cordingly, either in the past, present, or future tense; bi

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انتظارت

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HAD you not ARRIVED, the expectation of you, WOULD (pro

فردا مرحوم ;(KILLED (me

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and, HAD I EATEN וְאָכַלְתִּי חַטָאת הַיּוֹם חַיִיטַב בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה :

the sin-offering to-day, WOULD it HAVE (seemed) GOOD in the eyes of Jehovah?

239. Commands, requests, prohibitions, deprecations, blessings, and hence future events taken prophetically, will be enounced by the imperatives of verbs, or by any of those other forms, which are used as imperatives (Artt. 233. 3. 234. 235.): as, Gen. xxvii. 3, a the sysų nay! 7

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,and now, TAKE, I pray וְקַשְׁתֶּךָ וְצֵא הַשָּׂדֶה וְצוּדָה לִי צָיִדה :

thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and Go OUT into the plain, and HUNT for me a hunting. Ib. v. 26,

COME NEAR NOW, and KISS me, my son. Ib. v. 28, pp vibe 171an and MAY God GIVE (or, he shall give) thee of the dew of heaven.

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be) thousands of myriads, and LET thy seed POSSESS the gate of those who hate them. See also Gen. xii. 2, xx. 7, xlv. 18; Deut. xxxii. 50; Is. xlvii. 1; Ps. xxxvii. 27, xlv. 4, 5: also Ps. lxix. from v. 7 to the end, explained by St. Paul, Rom. xi. 9, &c., as prophetical. So also Ps. cix. compared with Acts i. 20; Ps. lxxix. 6-12. See Glassius, Lib. i., Tract iv., § i.,

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~ if to-day you (by any chance) shew mercy to mankind, to-morrow you HAVE RECEIVED mercy, i. e. CERTAINLY SHALL RECEIVE it. See Pers. Gram., vol. ii. p. 322, &c. That is to say, the present tense appears to be chosen when contingency is intended to be intimated, the preterite when it is not. The one therefore is a less forcible form of expression than the other. It is, however, my intention shortly to treat this matter more at length in a tract devoted to this and similar questions.

Canon ii., Lib. iii., Tract iii.; Canon xliii. xlv., &c. Viger. de idiotismis Græcis, p. 155, Edit. 1813, with the

notes.

Remarks.

240. The preceding rules seem to be governed by two general principles. One, in which the Writer, setting out from the period in which he commences his narrative, follows the different circumstances of it, as if himself and his reader were present, and hence dates the tenses of his verbs from the different periods in which he thus places himself; still however reserving the right of returning to his original position whenever he pleases.

2. By the other principle, events which it is believed will certainly take place, are represented as having already come to pass: and thence preterites are used as Imperatives for the greater emphasis. Nothing surely can be more natural than the adoption of such principles. And, when we consider the great degree of precision, which their application must communicate to the context, we shall be induced to believe, that the poverty and uncertainty, of which it has been fashionable to accuse the Hebrew language, has rather arisen out of our own ignorance, than from any defect inherent in its construction. We do not mean to affirm, however, that we can always say, why one mode of enunciation is preferred to another, when, as far as we can see, either would have suited the character of the context: nor can we in the Greek and Latin, notwithstanding all that has been said in their favour. In many cases the parallelism may have had some influence, in others attraction; but, upon the whole, I believe we can generally give as good an account of the use of the tenses in the Hebrew, as can be given in either the Greek, Latin, or any other language.

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