| 46. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with a fronted subject phrase, veyad-Yahweh {וְיַד־יְהוָה | wə-yaḏ-Yə-hō-wāh} ‘the hand of the LORD,’ an idiom for Yahweh’s active enabling presence, followed by haytah {הָיְתָה | hā-yə-ṯāh} ‘was,’ forming a verbless-like clause that foregrounds divine initiative before describing human action. The prepositional phrase el-Eliyahu {אֶל־אֵלִיָּהוּ | ʾel-ʾĕ-lī-yā-hû} ‘to Elijah’ marks the recipient of that enabling. The narration then advances through a chain of wayyiqtol forms: vayeshannes {וַיְשַׁנֵּס | way-šăn-nēs} ‘and he girded up’ (intensive Piel, describing preparation) and vayarats {וַיָּרָץ | way-yā-rāṣ} ‘and he ran’ (Qal, the resulting action). The phrase lifnei {לִפְנֵי | lip̄-nê} ‘before/in front of’ sets Elijah’s position relative to Achav {אַחְאָב | ʾaḥ-ʾāḇ}, highlighting an extraordinary reversal where the prophet runs ahead of the king. The endpoint is expressed with ad-boakhah {עַד־בֹּאֲכָה | ʿad-bō-ʾă-ḵāh} ‘until the entrance of,’ and the directional ending in Yizreelah {יִזְרְעֶאלָה | yiz-rə-ʿē-lāh} ‘toward Jezreel’ specifies movement to the city’s approach rather than merely in its vicinity. |