| 3. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the vav consecutive verb velāqaḥat {וְלָקַ֣חַתְּ | wə-lā-qa-ḥat} ‘and you shall take’ (Qal imperfect 2fs), introducing an instruction. It continues with the prepositional phrase bə-yāḏeḵ {בְּיָדֵךְ | bə-yā-ḏēḵ} ‘in your hand’, specifying the means. The items ʿəsārāh leḥem {עֲשָׂרָה לֶחֶם | ʿə-sārāh le-ḥem} ‘ten loaves of bread’, wə-niqquḏīm {וְנִקֻּדִים | wə-nikkū-ḏīm} ‘and cakes’, and ū-ḇaqbūq də-baš {וּבַקְבֻּק דְּבַשׁ | ū-ḇaq-būq də-baš} ‘and a bottle of honey’ are listed without conjunctions. The conjunction ū-ḇāʾt {וּבָאת | ū-ḇāʾ-et} ‘and you will go’ (Qal perfect 2fs) introduces motion to the destination ʾēlāw {אֵלָיו | ʾē-lāw} ‘to him’. The clause hūʾ yaggīḏ lāḵ māh-yihyēh la-nāʿār {הוּא יַגִּיד לָךְ מַה־יִהְיֶה לַנָּעַר | hūʾ yag-gīḏ lāḵ māh-yih-hyēh la-nāʿ-ār} forms a subject-verb-indirect-object-result structure, literally ‘he will tell to you what will be to the boy’. In English the order is shifted to SVO for clarity while preserving the Hebrew sequence. |