The prophetic perfect tense is a literary technique used in the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

that describes future events that are so certain to happen that they are referred to in the

past tense The past tense is a grammatical tense whose function is to place an action or situation in the past. Examples of verbs in the past tense include the English verbs ''sang'', ''went'' and ''washed''. Most languages have a past tense, with some hav ...

as if they had already happened.

History

The category of "prophetic perfect" was already suggested by medieval Hebrew grammarians,Max F. Rogland, ''Alleged Non-past Uses of «qatal» in Classical Hebrew'' (Assen: Royal Van Gorcum, 2003), pp. 53-56. such as

David Kimhi ''Cervera Bible'', David Qimhi's Grammar Treatise David Kimhi ( he, ר׳ דָּוִד קִמְחִי, also Kimchi or Qimḥi) (1160–1235), also known by the Hebrew acronym as the RaDaK () (Rabbi David Kimhi), was a medieval rabbi, biblical commen ...

: "The matter is as clear as though it had already passed,"Bruce Waltke & M. O’Connor, ''An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax'' (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1990), p. 464, n. 45 or Isaac ben Yedaiah:

" he rabbisof blessed memory followed, in these words of theirs, in the paths of the prophets who speak of something which will happen in the future in the language of the past. Since they saw in prophetic vision that which was to occur in the future, they spoke about it in the past tense and testified firmly that it had happened, to teach the certainty of his od'swords -- may he be blessed -- and his positive promise that can never change and his beneficent message that will not be altered." (Isaac ben Yedaiah):Robert Chazan, ''Daggers of Faith'' (Berkeley: UC Press, 1989), p. 87

Gesenius describes it as follows:

"The perfect serves to express actions, events, or states, which the speaker wishes to represent from the point of view of completion, whether they belong to a determinate past time, or extend into the present, or while still future, are pictured as in their completed state." (GKC §106a)
Wilhelm Gesenius Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius (3 February 178623 October 1842) was a German orientalist, lexicographer, Christian Hebraist, Lutheran theologian, Biblical scholar and critic. Biography Gesenius was born at Nordhausen. In 1803 he became a s ...
, E. Kautzsch, and A. E. Cowley, ''Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar'' ( Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910).

" he perfect can be used toexpress facts which are undoubtedly imminent, and, therefore, in the imagination of the speaker, already accomplished (perfectum confidentiae), e.g. Nu 17:27... Gn 30:13, 1 S 6:5 ..., Pr 4:2. Even in interrogative sentences, Gn 18:12, Nu 17:28, 23:10, Ju 9:9, 11, Zc 4:10 (?), Pr 22:20.8 This use of the perfect occurs most frequently in prophetic language (perfectum propheticum). The prophet so transports himself in imagination into the future that he describes the future event as if it had been already seen or heard by him, e.g. Is 5:13 ...; 19:7, Jb 5:20, 2 Ch 20:37. Not infrequently the imperfect interchanges with such perfects either in the parallel member or further on in the narrative." (GKC §106n)

According to Waltke & O'Connor:

"Referring to absolute future time, a perfective form may be ''persistent'' or ''accidental''. A ''persistent (future) perfective'' represents a single situation extending from the present into the future.... With an ''accidental perfective'' a speaker vividly and dramatically represents a future situation both as complete and as independent…. This use is especially frequent in prophetic address (hence it is also called the “prophetic perfect” or “perfective of confidence”)."Waltke and O’Connor, §30.5.1e, 489-90

Klein has attempted to identify all established instances of the prophetic perfect.George Linam Klein, "The 'Prophetic Perfect'" ''Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages'' 16 (1990): 45-60 Notarius, siding with Rogland, argues that the "prophetic perfect" is "a metaphorical use of the past tense in the retrospective future-oriented report."Tania Notarius, ''The Verb in Archaic Biblical Poetry: A Discursive, Typological, and Historical Investigation of the Tense System'' (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2013), p.88.

Examples

*"Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst." - Isaiah 5:13 *"He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages: They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled. Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto Laish, O poor Anathoth. Madmenah is removed; the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee. As yet shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem." - Isaiah 10:28-32 *"Therefore thus saith the God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the ." - Jeremiah 23:2 * "The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up." - Amos 5:2

References

{{Reflist Figures of speech Biblical exegesis Language and mysticism