Word: ויהי
Representation: VYHY
Transliteration: Yayehi
Verb: "and it/he was"
Strong Concordance: H1961
Exposition
This is a vav-conversive form of the verb, reversing the future-tense single-person form of the verb "to be" to the past-tense form, or "he/it was". Vav-conversive is a Biblical style that it not normally used in modern Hebrew.
Because Hebrew is gender-based (there is no "it", just "he" or "she"), this word can either be translated as "it was" or "he was". The prefixing vav can either be translated or dropped, depending on the style and context. I typically use "and" unless another preposition helps the sentence flow better.
All vav-conversive past forms in Tanach:
ויהי - And he was
ואהיה - I will be (the KJV mangles this to "I AM")
ויהיו - They will be
ותהיו - You (plural) will be
ותהיי - You (fem.) will be
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