| 16. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative begins with the vav-consecutive verb vayetse’u {וַיֵּצְא֖וּ | wayyēṣə’û} ‘and they went out’, which sets the action at the temporal adverbial batzahorayim {בַּֽצָּהֳרָ֑יִם | baṣāhō·rāyim} ‘noon’—the dual form intensifying focus on midday. The scene then shifts to uven-hadad {וּבֶן־הֲדַד֩ | ū·ḇen-ha·ḏaḏ} ‘Ben-Hadad’, whose state is portrayed by the participle shoteh {שֹׁתֶ֨ה | šō·ṯēh} ‘drinking’ and the adjective shikor {שִׁכּ֜וֹר | šî·kôr} ‘drunk’, heightening his inebriation. His location is marked by the locative basukkot {בַּסֻּכּ֗וֹת | ba·suk·kōṯ} ‘in the tents’, with the pronoun hu {ה֧וּא | hū} ‘he’ resuming the subject. The coordination vehammeleḵim {וְהַמְּלָכִ֛ים | wə·ham·mā·lă·ḵîm} ‘and the kings’ merges with the compound numeral sheloshim-ushnayim {שְׁלֹשִֽׁים־וּשְׁנַ֥יִם | šelō·šīm u·šnayim} ‘thirty-two’, concluding with melekh ’ō·zēr ô·ṯô {מֶ֖לֶךְ עֹזֵ֥ר אֹתֽוֹ | mê·leḵ ’ō·zēr ô·ṯô} ‘kings helping him’, which together depict the allied force. The English translation employs explicit coordination and participial clauses to mirror Hebrew verb chains and maintain the simultaneity of action and state. |