| 4. Linguistic Exegesis The verse uses sequential vav-consecutive verb forms to narrate battlefield actions: vayilkod {וַיִּלְכֹּד֩ | wayyikkōḏ} ‘and he captured’, vayaker {וַיְעַקֵּ֤ר | wayyaʿaqqēr} ‘and he hamstrung’, and vayoter {וַיּוֹתֵ֥ר | wayyōṯēr} ‘and he left’. Numeral constructs adhere to Hebrew syntax with the cardinal numeral preceding its noun in construct chains, as in elef rekev {אֶלֶף רֶכֶב | ʾelep̄ reḵeḇ} ‘one thousand chariots’ and šivʿat alafim parashim {שִׁבְעַת אֲלָפִים פָּרָשִׁים | šīḇʿat ʾālāp̄īm p̄ārāšīm} ‘seven thousand horsemen’. The particle et-kol-harechev {אֶת־כָּל־הָרֶ֔כֶב | ʾet-kol-hā-rā-ḵēḇ} marks totality of the chariots. The Piel stem in vayaker intensifies the disabling of the warhorses, while the Hiphil stem in vayoter conveys the causative outcome of leaving a remnant. |