and most nearly related to the adjective; consequently they cannot in themselves be employed to represent definite relations of tense or mood. On the other hand, their verbal character is shown by their not representing, like the adjectives, a fixed and permanent quality (or state), but one which is in some way connected with an action or activity. The participle active indicates a person or thing conceived as being in the continual uninterrupted exercise of an activity. The participle passive, on the other hand, indicates the person or thing in a state which has been brought about by external actions.
[b] Rem. That the language was fully conscious of the difference between a state implying action (or effected by external action) and mere passivity, is seen from the fact, that participles proper cannot be formed from the purely stative Qal, but only verbal adjectives of the form qāṭēl (מָלֵא, כָּבֵד, &c.) or qāṭōl (גָּבֹהַּ, &c.), whereas the transitive Qal שָׂנֵא to hate, although it coincides in form with the intransitive Qal (as a verb middle e), nevertheless forms a participle active שׂנֵא, and participle passive שָׂנוּא (cf. the feminine שְׂנוּאָה).—In cases where the participle proper and the verbal adjective both occur, they are by no means synonymous. When the Assyrians are called in Is 28 לַֽעֲגֵי שָׂפָה men of stammering lips, a character is ascribed to them which is inseparably connected with their personality. On the other hand כֻּלֹּה לֹעֵג לִי Jer 20, describes those about the prophet as continually engaged in casting ridicule upon him. Cf. also ψ 9 (שְׁכֵחֵי) with 50:22 (שֹֽׁכְחֵי).
[c] On the difference between the participle as expressing simple duration and the imperfect as expressing progressive duration, cf. what has been stated above in § 107 d. Nevertheless the participle is sometimes used—especially in the later books, cf. e.g. Neh 6, 2 Ch 17—where we should expect the action to be divided up into its several parts, and consequently should expect the finite verb. But the substitution of the participle for the tempus historicum, which becomes customary in Aramaic (cf. Kautzsch, Gramm. des Bibl.-Aram., § 76. 2, d, and e), is nevertheless quite foreign to Hebrew.
[d] 2. The period of time indicated by (a) a participle active, either as an attribute or predicate, must be inferred from the particular context. Thus מֵת may mean either moriens (Zc 11), or mortuus (so commonly; with the article הַמֵּת regularly = the dead man), or moriturus (Dt 4); בָּא coming, come Gn 18, &c., venturus 1 S 2, &c.; נׄפֵל falling, but also fallen, Ju 3, 1 S 5, and ready to fall (threatening ruin, Is 30, Am 9). For other examples of perfect participles see Gn 27, 43 (הַשָּׁב that was returned; cf. Ezr 6, &c., הַשָּׁבִים which were come again from the captivity); Gn 35, Ex 11, Zc 12, ψ 137, Pr 8, Jb 12 (קֹרֵא), and see m below. For future participles see Gn 41, 1 K 18, Is 5, Jon 1, &c., probably also לֹֽקְחֵי Gn 19. On the futurum instans (esp. after הִנֵּה) see p below.
[e] (b) Of the passive participles, that of Qal (e.g. כָּתוּב scriptus) always corresponds to a Latin or Greek perfect participle passive, those of the other conjugations, especially Niphʿal, sometimes to
