The participle as a component of the verbal system in Biblical Hebrew

In Biblical Hebrew, the active participle has, as may be expected, a number of nominal and adjectival functions. However, it also, in certain contexts, exerts a verbal meaning. In the latter function, the participle is part of the verbal paradigm, expressing a range of nuances some of which—notably the expression of the “real present”—cannot be expressed by any other verbal form. The main verbal functions of the participle are exemplified in the paper. Also a diachronic trajectory of syntactic change is described leading from the “classical” Biblical Hebrew of the monarchic period (tenth to seventh centuries BCE) to early post-biblical Hebrew (first century BCE)