Qatal (perfect) verbs tend to refer to past time events. Some have argued that there are exceptions, however. This paper examines all the possible non-past qatal occurrences in Zechariah, and classifies them into three categories—timeless present/generic (2x), prophetic perfect (5x), and performative (26x), including the so-called messenger formula (“thus says/has said the LORD”). It then evaluates each verb to determine if they truly are non-past. This study evaluates the tense and aspect for each verb using a modified event model developed by Ken Penner and based on Reichenbach. This study interacts with recent literature, including Daniel Carver’s 2017 dissertation on qatal verbs, Rebecca Hassalbach-Ande’s 2015 study of performatives in Semitic, Egbert Fortuin’s 2019 study of performatives in cross-linguistic perspective, Krzysztof Baranowski’s 2016 study of Amarna verbs, and at least briefly with Ulf Bergström’s 2022 understanding of qatal verbs as they relate to his proposal for tense and aspect.
This paper concludes that a past time meaning is legitimate for all possible non-past qatal verbs in Zechariah, even if a non-past meaning cannot be ruled out in all cases. The paper contextualizes these results within an analysis of the TAM of all the qatal verbs in Zechariah.