| 27. Linguistic Exegesis The clause begins with veyonatan {וְיוֹנָתָ֣ן | wə-yō-na-than} ‘and Jonathan’, establishing the subject, followed by the negation lo {לֹא | lō} plus the Qal perfect shama‘ {שָׁמַע | šā-ma‘} ‘he heard’, indicating lack of awareness. The prepositional infinitive behashbi‘a {בְּהַשְׁבִּ֣יעַ | bə-haš-bî-‘a} ‘in causing to swear’ frames the circumstance in a Hiphil infinitive construct. Then the vav-consecutive verbs vayishlach {וַיִּשְׁלַ֗ח | va-yish-lāḥ} ‘he sent out’ and vayitbol {וַיִּטְבֹּ֥ל | va-yit-bōl} ‘he dipped’ drive the action forward. The relative clause asher beyado {אֲשֶׁר בְּיָד֔וֹ | ’a-šer bə-ya-ḏô} ‘that was in his hand’ qualifies ketseh hamatteh {קְצֵה הַמַּטֶּה | qe-ṣê ha-mat-têh} ‘the tip of the staff’. The locative phrase beya‘arat hadvash {בְּיַעְרַת הַדְּבָשׁ | bə-ya-‘a-rat ha-də-vaš} ‘in the honeycomb’ sets the tasting scene. After dipping, the vav-consecutive vayashev {וַיָּשֶׁב | va-yā-šev} ‘he put’ with yado {יָדוֹ | yā-ḏô} ‘his hand’ and el-pivo {אֶל־פִּיו | ’el pî-vô} ‘to his mouth’ conveys the tasting action, and the subsequent vataorena {וַתָּאֹ֖רְנָה | va-tā-’or-ne-nā} ‘they became bright’ with the feminine plural subject einav {עֵינָֽיו | ’ê-nā-vi} ‘his eyes’ depicts the resulting illumination. |