| 32. Linguistic Exegesis The verse is composed as a rapid chain of vav-consecutive verbs—vayyaʿaṭ {וַיַּעַט | wayyaʿaṭ} ‘and rushed’, wayyiqḥū {וַיִּקְחוּ | wayyiqḥū} ‘and they took’, wayyišḥəṭū-ʾāreṣāh {וַיִּשְׁחֲטוּ־אָרְצָה | wayyišḥəṭū-ʾā-reṣ-āh} ‘and they slaughtered’, wayyōʾaḥal {וַיֹּאכַל | wayyōʾaḥal} ‘and he ate’—which drives the narrative forward without conjunctions. An asyndetic list of direct objects (ṣōn {צֹאן | ṣōn}, ūbāqār {וּבָקָר | ū-bā-qār}, ūvənēy bāqār {וּבְנֵי בָקָר | ū-və-nēy bā-qār}) amplifies the scope of the seizure. The phrase ʿal-haddām {עַל־הַדָּם | ʿal-ha-ddām} marks a deliberate breach of sacrificial regulations (cf. Leviticus 17:10–14), and the specification of ʾāreṣāh {אָרְצָה | ʾā-reṣ-āh} ‘on the ground’ highlights improvised butchery, underscoring the soldiers’ desperation and collapse of order. |