| 37. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative sequence uses vav-consecutive verbs, chaining vayimtza {וַיִּמְצָא | wayyiṣṣāʾ} ‘and he found’, vayomer {וַיֹּאמֶר | wayyōmer} ‘and he said’, and vayakehu {וַיַּכֵּהוּ | wayyakkēhû} ‘and he struck him’. The imperatives hakeini {הַכֵּינִי | hakkēnî} ‘strike me’ and hake {הַכֵּה | hakkēh} ‘strike !’ intensify the summons, with na {נָא | nāʾ} ‘please’ conveying polite entreaty. The infinitive absolute ufatzoa {וּפָצֹעַ | ū-pāṣōaʿ} ‘(and) wound’ functions as an emphatic result clause. The definite article in haish {הָאִישׁ | hā-ʾîš} ‘the man’ specifies the actor. English echoes this structure by maintaining sequential connectors and direct imperatives to preserve the Hebrew narrative force. |