| 5. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the vav-consecutive verb vayyāḇōʾ {וַיָּבֹא֙ | vayyāḇōʾ} ‘and came’, marking sequential narrative flow. The construct phrase ʾAram Dārmēśeḳ {אֲרַם דַּרְמֶשֶׂק | ʾAram Dārmēśeḳ} ‘Aram of Damascus’ specifies the particular Aramean group. The infinitive clause lăʿăzôr {לַעֲזוֹר | lăʿăzôr} ‘to help’ conveys purpose toward lăhaḏḏaʿdezer {לַהֲדַדְעֶזֶר | lăhaḏḏaʿdezer} ‘Hadadezer’, identified by the title mêleḵ ṣōḇāh {מֶלֶךְ צוֹבָה | mêleḵ ṣōḇāh} ‘king of Zobah’. The narrative resumes with vayyāk {וַיַּךְ | vayyāk} ‘and struck’ followed by the locative bā-ʾArām {בַּאֲרָם | bā-ʾArām} ‘in Aram’. The composite numeral ʿeśrîm û-šnayîm {עֶשְׂרִֽים־וּשְׁנַיִם | ʿeśrîm û-šnayîm} ‘twenty and two’ with ’elep̄ {אֶלֶף | ’elep̄} ‘thousand’ and the collective noun ’îš {אִֽישׁ | ’îš} ‘men’ quantifies the casualties. In translation, the sequence of vav-consecutive verbs is rendered in the simple past to preserve narrative progression, the infinitive purpose clause appears as ‘to help’, and the Hebrew composite numeral is smoothed into the English cardinal ‘twenty-two thousand’. |