Ecclesiastes 9:5

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

They work differently because they’re simpler - past, simple present, and future. That’s it.

‘Sayeth’ (amr) is present tense. Instead of ‘God said’ the actual Hebrew is ‘God says’. 

Boru

So, if Hebrew has the past tense, why does it say "God says" rather than "God said"?

It’s an attempt to make God ‘present’, in the sense that God actively maintains the material world - God didn’t just make light, God makes light.

You can find where the original present tense slips through the translation in Isaiah 45:7. 

Boru