## Malbim Ayelet HaShachar Klal 42

###### Malbim Ayelet HaShachar 42:1
[Malbim Ayelet HaShachar 42:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Malbim%20Ayelet%20HaShachar/r/42:1)

העתיד יבוא על שני פנים אם יש מקום לוי"ו

**Ayelet Hashachar, translated by Betzalel Avraham Feinstein, 2021:**
A future tense verb can come in two ways, if there is a prefix ו.


###### Malbim Ayelet HaShachar 42:2
[Malbim Ayelet HaShachar 42:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Malbim%20Ayelet%20HaShachar/r/42:2)

(א) העבר־המהופך־לעתיד על ידי הוי"ו שבראשו. כמו **וסמך ושחט**

**Ayelet Hashachar, translated by Betzalel Avraham Feinstein, 2021:**
a) A past tense verb reverses to future tense through the ו at the beginning of the words, like **וסמך ושחט** (And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it)⁹⁵.

footnotes:
⁹⁵ Leviticus 3:2.


###### Malbim Ayelet HaShachar 42:3
[Malbim Ayelet HaShachar 42:3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Malbim%20Ayelet%20HaShachar/r/42:3)

(ב) העתיד הגמור עם ו' החיבור. כמו "**ואעשך** לגוי גדול **ואברכך**".

**Ayelet Hashachar, translated by Betzalel Avraham Feinstein, 2021:**
b) A future tense verb with the ו that connects, like **ואעשך** לגוי גדול **ואברכך** (And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you)⁹⁶.

footnotes:
⁹⁶ Genesis 12:2.


###### Malbim Ayelet HaShachar 42:4
[Malbim Ayelet HaShachar 42:4](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Malbim%20Ayelet%20HaShachar/r/42:4)

ויש הבדל ביניהם. שהעתיד־עם־ו'־המהפכת הוא העבר הנמצא בזמן עתיד, ר"ל שמדבר על שיהיה הדבר נגמר ונשלם בזמן עתיד. אבל העתיד־עם־ו'־החיבור יכוין לומר שיפעיל בעתיד – לא על שיהיה הדבר נגמר ונשלם, ועל כן בא עתיד זה לרוב בגלות רצון ובקשה ומורה התחלת הפעולה והמשכתה. והעתיד עם ו' ההיפוך מציין התשלום והגמר.

**Ayelet Hashachar, translated by Betzalel Avraham Feinstein, 2021:**
And there is a difference between them: The future tense with a reversing ו is talking about the past relative to a future time; it means to say that it speaks about a matter that will be finished and completed at a time in the future. But the future tense with a ו that connects intends to say that it will become active in the future – not that it will be finished and completed. Thus, this future usually comes with respect to revealing intent, seeking, and indicating the beginning of the action and its continuation. And a future tense verb with a ו that reverses establishes the completion and termination.


###### Malbim Ayelet HaShachar 42:5
[Malbim Ayelet HaShachar 42:5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Malbim%20Ayelet%20HaShachar/r/42:5)

וזה היה יסוד בידי חז"ל לכמה דרושים גדולים (תזריע ס' ו באורך, וסימן קיח. ועוד אמור ס' פ, אמור ס' קצג, אמור ס' ר. בחוקותי ס' ע). ועל כן במ"ש "וטמא עד הערב וטהר" יש סתירה בלשון, ודרשו שכבר הוא טהור מאיזה דבר (שמיני ס' קכג, תזריע ס' סה באורך, מצורע ס' קנב)

**Ayelet Hashachar, translated by Betzalel Avraham Feinstein, 2021:**
And this is the foundation that the sages of blessed memory used for several great interpretations. And so when it writes וטמא עד הערב וטהר (and it shall be unclean until the evening; then it shall be clean)⁹⁷, there is an inconsistency in the language, and they interpret this to mean that it was already clean from a certain matter.

*The key to understanding Rule 42 is to understand the difference between perfect and imperfect verbs. (See Rule 12 for the definition of a perfect verb and an imperfect verb.) When the Malbim speaks about past tense and future tense verbs throughout his commentary on the Scripture, he is actually speaking about perfect and imperfect tense verbs, since verbs in the Torah have only two tenses, perfect and imperfect. According to Rule 42, a*ו*that reverses or connects does not change its status as a perfect or imperfect tense verb; it can only change whether the verb is to be interpreted as taking place in the future or in the past.*

*In the instance of **וסמך ושחט**, it is not really two past tense verbs with a*ו*that reverses the tense to the future, but two perfect tense verbs that will be finished and completed some time in the future. And in the instance of***ואעשך** לגוי גדול **ואברכך***, it is not really two future tense verbs with a*ו*that connects, but two imperfect tense verbs which will become active in the future.*

footnotes:
⁹⁷ Leviticus 11:32.