| 5. Linguistic Exegesis The verse moves forward with two wayyiqtol forms, wayyitten {וַיִּתֵּ֥ן | wayyittēn} ‘and he gave’ followed by wayhi {וַיְהִ֣י | wayhî} ‘and it was’, a common narrative sequence that first reports the transfer of information and then states the resulting figures. The object is expressed as a construct chain, ʾet-mispar mifqad-haʿam {אֶת־מִסְפַּ֥ר מִפְקַד־הָעָ֖ם | ʾeṯ-mispār mip̄qaḏ-hāʿām} ‘the number of the census of the people’, presenting an administrative total rather than a general description. After the recipient phrase ʾel-dawid {אֶל־דָּוִ֑יד | ʾel-dāwîḏ} ‘to David’, the clause headed by kol-yisraʾel {כָֽל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֡ל | kol-yiśrāʾēl} frames the first tally as comprehensive, and the idiom ʾelep ʾalafim û-meʾah ʾelep {אֶ֣לֶף אֲלָפִים֩ וּמֵאָ֨ה אֶ֤לֶף | ʾelep ʾălāp̄îm û-mēʾāh ʾelep} functions as a scaled number (1,100,000). The appositional description ʾish sholef cherev {אִישׁ֙ שֹׁ֣לֵֽף חֶ֔רֶב | ʾîš šōlēp̄ ḥereḇ} identifies the counted group as armed combatants, and the Judah clause mirrors the same pattern (name + number + qualifier), creating parallelism that highlights the two totals side by side. In English, the Hebrew narrative verbs are rendered with simple past tense, and the numeric idioms are converted into standard figures while retaining the repeated “drawing the sword” wording to preserve the verse’s rhythmic, report-like style. |