The Peshitta employs a periphrastic construction ܘܒܥܐ ܗܘܐ (wəḇāʿā hwā, 'and he was beseeching') using the auxiliary verb ܗܘܐ to express imperfective aspect, whereas Greek uses the simple imperfect παρεκάλει and Latin the imperfect deprecabatur without auxiliary.