2478: Hebrew Jussive: Not Just the Future Sep 24, 2021

There is a myth that Hebrew has no jussive subjunctive (such as English "let's" or "let there be"), as in most cases this looks to be the imperfect , signifying uncompleted action. For instance, the line in the opening of the Bible:

יהי אור ויהי־אור (yahi ohr vayahi ohr) can be translated as "let there be light, and there was light" or "there will be light, and there was light". In some instances this has led to obvious mistranslations, because the truth is in most contexts, there is no difference in the form of the word between the two. There are some instances where the two would differ however—proving that there is a difference in form—such as: ישם in

ישא יי פניו אליך וְיָשֵׂם לך שלום

pronounced (yasem) for the subjective meaning "may he place" as opposed to יָשִׂים (yasim) "he will place".