| 19. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the noun berit {בְּרִית | bə-rît} ‘covenant,’ followed by a fourfold prepositional parallelism with bein {בֵּין | bēyn} in beini {בֵּינִי | bē-yīnî} ‘between me,’ conjunction + preposition uveineka {וּבֵינֶךָ | ū-bē-nê-kha} ‘and between you,’ preposition bein avi {בֵּין אָבִי | bēyn ʾā-ḇî} ‘between my father,’ and conjunction + preposition uvein aveikha {וּבֵין אָבִיךָ | ū-bēyn ʾă-ḇê-kha} ‘and between your father,’ intensifying the mutual obligation. The demonstrative hinneh {הִנֵּה | hinnê} ‘behold’ introduces the main clause, governed by the Qal perfect shalachti {שָׁלַחְתִּי | šā-laḥ-tî} ‘I have sent.’ The noun shochad {שֹׁחַד | šō-ḥaḏ} ‘bribe’ with the coordinated nouns kesef and zahav {כֶּסֶף וְזָהָב | kĕ-sep̄ wə-zā-hāv} ‘silver and gold’ frames a diplomatic offering. The Hiphil imperative hāpērāh {הָפֵרָה | hāpērāh} ‘break’ and the Qal imperative lēkh {לֵךְ | lēkh} ‘go’ command the annulment of the agreement. The construct chain et beriteka et baasha melek Yisra’ēl {אֶת־בְּרִֽיתְךָ אֶת־בַּעְשָׁא מֶלֶךְ־יִשְׂרָאֵל | ʾet-bə-rît-kha ʾet-bā-ʿa-šāʾ mê-leḵ-yis-rā-ʾêl} specifies the covenant and its political target. Finally, the verb veyya‘aleh me‘alai {וְיַעֲלֶה מֵעָלָי | wə-ya-ʿă-lêh mê-ʿā-lāy} uses the idiom ‘to go up’ for ‘withdraw,’ signifying Baasha’s departure. |