וְנֵ֣דְעָ֔ה (wə·nê·ḏə·‘āh) in Jonah 1:7: Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive imperfect Cohortative - first person common plural
וְנֵ֣דְעָ֔ה (wə·nê·ḏə·‘āh) in Jonah 1:7
Source Word
The BSB+ row for Jonah 1:7 links the English rendering "to find out" with וְנֵ֣דְעָ֔ה, Strong's H3045, and the parsing label Conj-w | V-Qal-ConjImperf.Cohort-1cp.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form makes the search for cause a collective resolve, not a detached observation, as the sailors move from panic to investigation.
How To Communicate It
Use this form to show how Hebrew can compactly join and let us know into one verbal movement within the sailors' speech.
What Not To Say
- Grammar should serve context, not override it.
- Do not make the imperfect label prove more than the sentence supports.
- Do not use the stem label by itself to settle a theological claim.
- Do not treat this occurrence as a complete word study for the whole Hebrew lemma.
What Does The Label Mean?
Hebrew-verb
Verb
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive imperfect Cohortative - first person common plural
Conjunctive waw
Qal
Conj Imperf Cohort
First person
Common
Plural
The conjunctive imperfect form joins the action to its context and may carry modal force; Jonah 1:7 determines how that force is heard.
This form carries the BSB rendering "to find out" within Jonah 1:7. Jonah 1 follows the prophet's flight, the storm at sea, and the sailors' growing fear as disobedience is exposed.
What The Form Does In This Verse
The action or phrase rendered "to find out" in Jonah 1:7
The form is governed by the sailors' speech after the lot-casting proposal, where they seek to know the cause of the calamity.
It voices the sailors' shared proposal to discover whose guilt has brought the calamity, so the cohortative force is heard inside their plan.
The form does not by itself settle every use of H3045, every possible translation, or the whole doctrine connected to this passage.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The cohortative form shows the sailors acting together to identify the cause of the storm.
Waw-linked Qal cohortative first plural. expresses a shared proposal or resolve by the speaking group. Attached to the let us find out proposal. Governed by the sailors' plan to cast lots. The form carries modal, speaker-involved force; the narrative determines why they seek knowledge.
What are the sailors proposing together? They propose to find out whose guilt is behind the disaster.
Direct: The form directly supports let us find out or so that we may know.
Cohortative force should be heard as proposal or resolve, not as a bare future tense. Qal names the basic verbal stem here and should not be treated as automatically simple in theological force. The waw joins the speech movement and should be read from the narrative sequence.
Qal means simple or theologically plain: Qal identifies the stem; the sailors' proposal and the narrative context supply the interpretive force.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The BSB+ row for Jonah 1:7 links the English rendering "to find out" with וְנֵ֣דְעָ֔ה, Strong's H3045, and the parsing label Conj-w | V-Qal-ConjImperf.Cohort-1cp.
H3045 is represented here by the lemma יָדַע. In this occurrence, the public guide is limited to the BSB rendering "to find out" rather than every possible gloss of the entry.
The cohortative first common plural gives the sailors' words volitional force, and the waw joins that resolve to the preceding plan to cast lots.
Jonah 1 follows the prophet's flight, the storm at sea, and the sailors' growing fear as disobedience is exposed.
The form fits Scripture's witness to mercy, repentance, prophetic obedience, and God's compassion for the nations.
When teaching Jonah 1:7, show that the form gives the sailors a shared let-us movement as they try to identify the cause of the disaster.
Do not turn Qal or cohortative form into a doctrine of knowledge by itself. The narrative setting and the sailors' fear carry the claim.