| 20. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the conjunction vehayamim {וְהַיָּמִים֙ | wə-hā-yā-yim} ‘and the days’, followed by the relative pronoun asher {אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾă-šer} ‘which’ introducing a relative clause with the verb malakh {מָלַ֣ךְ | mā-laḵ} ‘he reigned’. The coordinated cardinal numbers esrim ushtayim {עֶשְׂרִ֥ים וּשְׁתַּ֖יִם | ʿe-srīˈm wə-šă-tā-ˈyim} ‘twenty-two’ combine with the noun shanah {שָׁנָ֑ה | šā-nāh} ‘year’ to express the regnal period. The vav-consecutive imperfect vayishkav {וַיִּשְׁכַּב֙ | way-yiš-ḵav} ‘and he lay down’ marks a funerary narrative stage, with the prepositional idiom im-avotav {עִם־אֲבֹתָ֔יו | ʿim-’ă-vo-ˈtav} ‘with his fathers’ indicating death. The vav-consecutive imperfect vayimlokh {וַיִּמְלֹ֛ךְ | way-yi-m-lō-ḵ} ‘and he reigned’ introduces the royal succession, followed by the proper name Nadav {נָדָ֥ב | nā-ḏāḇ}, the construct beno {בְּנ֖וֹ | bə-nō} ‘his son’ and the prepositional phrase takhtav {תַּחְתָּֽיו | taḥ-ˈtāv} ‘in his place’, reflecting the transfer of authority. |