| 31. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative opens with vayakku {וַיַּכּוּ | wayyaqqû} ‘and they struck’, marking a sequential action through a vav consecutive. The temporal phrase bayyom hahu {בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא | ba-yōm ha-hû} ‘on that day’ situates the event precisely. The object is specified by bappelishtim {בַּפְּלִשְׁתִּים | bappĕlišṯîm} ‘against the Philistines’. The geographic scope is conveyed by the compound mimmiḵmāś ayyālōnāh {מִמִּכְמָשׂ אַיָּלֹנָה | mimmiḵmāś ayyālōnāh} ‘from Mikmash to Aijalon’, with the directional he marking the endpoint. The result clause uses vayyaaf {וַיָּעַף | wayyā‘ap̣} ‘and became weary’ plus the adverb me’ōḏ {מְאֹד | me’ōḏ} to emphasize collective fatigue of haam {הָעָם | hā-‘ām} ‘the people’. The English rendering retains the Hebrew sequence and highlights the narrative climax while ensuring readability through subject-verb-object order. |