וַֽיְהִי־ (way·hî-) in Genesis 1:15: Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
וַֽיְהִי־ (way·hî-) in Genesis 1:15
Source Word
At Genesis 1:15, the source token וַֽיְהִי־ is H1961, Conj-w | V-Qal-ConsecImperf-3ms. The BSB+ word table row therefore anchors this guide.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
And it was so idiomatically renders the narrative verb and its understood result without inventing a named subject. God appoints lights for illumination and calendrical signs, and the brief fulfillment formula confirms that the command stands effective.
How To Communicate It
Connect it was so directly to the preceding command and let the later description show how the ordered result appears.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not treat the masculine singular form as a hidden reference to one heavenly body or as a technical account of cosmology.
- The Hebrew expression is compact and its subject is implicit; English supplies it and so to state the fulfilled result.
- Read And it was within Genesis 1:15 as this H1961 occurrence; broader theology requires the passage.
What Does The Label Mean?
Hebrew-verb
Verb
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Qal
ConsecImperf
Third
Masculine
Singular
Not applicable
Conjunction w
None
The narrative form presents realization as the next event after God's speech, not as an abstract state detached from it.
The third masculine singular consecutive-imperfect is used impersonally in the formula it was so, advancing from command to fulfillment.
What The Form Does In This Verse
The fulfillment statement following God's command for lights to shine on the earth
The divine speech assigning the heavenly lights their function
The waw-consecutive verb introduces the compact fulfillment formula that confirms God's command took effect.
The singular form does not make one light the subject, and it does not describe a separate creative material.
How Much The Form Matters Here
Moderate: God appoints lights for illumination and calendrical signs, and the brief fulfillment formula confirms that the command stands effective.
The third masculine singular consecutive-imperfect is used impersonally in the formula it was so, advancing from command to fulfillment.. The waw-consecutive verb introduces the compact fulfillment formula that confirms God's command took effect.. Attached to the fulfillment statement following God's command for lights to shine on the earth. Governed by the divine speech assigning the heavenly lights their function. The singular form does not make one light the subject, and it does not describe a separate creative material.
What does And it was so add after God commands the lights to shine? It marks the command as effectual before the narrative describes the lights and their appointed rule.
Direct: And it was so idiomatically renders the narrative verb and its understood result without inventing a named subject.
The Hebrew expression is compact and its subject is implicit; English supplies it and so to state the fulfilled result. Narrative succession affirms realization but does not state how much elapsed time the process involved.
Grammatical gender identifies the referent: The default masculine singular construction can introduce an impersonal result; it need not name one specific light. fulfillment formula explains mechanism: The clause confirms that God's word took effect, while the verse does not offer a scientific process description.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
At Genesis 1:15, the source token וַֽיְהִי־ is H1961, Conj-w | V-Qal-ConsecImperf-3ms. The BSB+ word table row therefore anchors this guide.
הָיָה is the lemma behind And it was here. Within Genesis 1:15, H1961 retains this exact lexical identity.
The third masculine singular consecutive-imperfect is used impersonally in the formula it was so, advancing from command to fulfillment.
God appoints lights for illumination and calendrical signs, and the brief fulfillment formula confirms that the command stands effective.
Creation answers God's word, while this grammatical formula witnesses to fulfillment without specifying the physical process involved.
Connect it was so directly to the preceding command and let the later description show how the ordered result appears.
Do not treat the masculine singular form as a hidden reference to one heavenly body or as a technical account of cosmology.