Genesis 2:19
Context2:19 The Lord God formed 1 out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would 2 name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.
Genesis 8:17
Context8:17 Bring out with you all the living creatures that are with you. Bring out 3 every living thing, including the birds, animals, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Let them increase 4 and be fruitful and multiply on the earth!” 5
1 tn Or “fashioned.” To harmonize the order of events with the chronology of chapter one, some translate the prefixed verb form with vav (ו) consecutive as a past perfect (“had formed,” cf. NIV) here. (In chapter one the creation of the animals preceded the creation of man; here the animals are created after the man.) However, it is unlikely that the Hebrew construction can be translated in this way in the middle of this pericope, for the criteria for unmarked temporal overlay are not present here. See S. R. Driver, A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew, 84-88, and especially R. Buth, “Methodological Collision between Source Criticism and Discourse Analysis,” Biblical Hebrew and Discourse Linguistics, 138-54. For a contrary viewpoint see IBHS 552-53 §33.2.3 and C. J. Collins, “The Wayyiqtol as ‘Pluperfect’: When and Why,” TynBul 46 (1995): 117-40.
2 tn The imperfect verb form is future from the perspective of the past time narrative.
3 tn The words “bring out” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
4 tn Following the Hiphil imperative, “bring out,” the three perfect verb forms with vav (ו) consecutive carry an imperatival nuance. For a discussion of the Hebrew construction here and the difficulty of translating it into English, see S. R. Driver, A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew, 124-25.
5 tn Heb “and let them swarm in the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”