| 28. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the narrative marker vayehi {וַיְהִ֛י | wayyəhî} ‘and it happened’, which, combined with the temporal expression midei {מִדֵּי־ | middê} ‘as often as’ and the infinitive bo {בֹ֥א | bōʼ} ‘coming’, establishes a repeated action. The construct beit Yahweh {בֵּ֣ית יְהוָ֑ה | bêṯ Yə-hō-wāh} ‘house of the LORD’ specifies the location. The pair of imperfect verbs yissāʼûm {יִשָּׂאוּם֙ | yissāʼûm} ‘they would carry them’ and wəhēšîḇûm {וֶהֱשִׁיב֖וּם | wəhēšîḇûm} ‘and they would return them’, with the subject hārāṣîm {הָֽרָצִ֔ים | hārāṣîm} ‘runners’, reflects coordinated ritual duties. The phrase el tāʼ {אֶל־תָּ֥א | ʼel tāʼ} ‘to chamber’ indicates the destination. English renders the Hebrew VSO order as SVO and employs iterative language to convey the habitual ceremonial process. |