Diachronic change took place in ancient Hebrew as in probably all other languages used for hundreds of years. This change is evident in the biblical texts, some of which are written in early biblical Hebrew (EBH), and some of which are written in late biblical Hebrew (LBH). However, it seems that later authors were able to write EBH, making linguistic dating on the basis of the evidence we currently have extremely difficult, or impossible. In addition, in the texts we have, substitutions of vocabulary and syntax took place in the manuscript traditions, and many of these substitutions affected the features that are used to decide whether a text is LBH or EBH, making the linguistic dating of Hebrew biblical texts even more problematic.

The article looks at several verbal features used to date texts linguistically, showing that when analyzed closely, use of the features turns out to merit more caution than might seem necessary on the surface of things.