| 8. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative opens with the vav-consecutive imperfect vayomru {וַיֹּאמְרוּ | wayyōmerû} ‘and they said,’ marking sequential action. The suffix-pronoun in elav {אֵלָיו | ʾēlāyw} ‘to him’ identifies the addressee. The paired phrases kol-ha-zəqēnîm {כָּל־הַזְּקֵנִים | kol-ha-zəqēnîm} ‘all the elders’ and wə-kol-hā-ʿām {וְכָל־הָעָם | wə-kol-hā-ʿām} ‘and all the people’ form a distributive parallelism emphasizing communal unanimity. The double negative imperatives ʾal-tišmaʿ {אַל־תִּשְׁמַע | ʾal-tišmaʿ} ‘do not listen’ and wə-lō tōʾeh {וְלֹא תֹאבֶה | wə-lō tōʾeh} ‘and do not consent’ address the king with a forceful prohibition. English preserves the coordination and strength of the Hebrew commands. |