| 13. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the vav-consecutive vayelchu {וַיֵּלְכוּ | wayyēḻĕḵû} ‘and they went,’ marking sequential action. The construct chain shloshet bnei-Yishai {שְׁלֹשֶׁת בְּנֵי־יִשַׁי | šəlōšeṯ bə·nē yišāy} ‘three sons of Jesse’ is modified by hagdolim {הַגְּדֹלִים | ha·gə·dō·lîm} ‘the eldest.’ The phrase acharei-Shaul la-milchamah {אַחֲרֵי־שָׁאוּל לַמִּלְחָמָה | ʾăḥǎrê šā’ûl la·mil·ḥā·māh} forms a purpose clause ‘to follow Saul into the war.’ The conjunction ve-shem {וְשֵׁם | wə·šēm} introduces names appositionally, with the ordinals ha-bechor {הַבְּכוֹר | ha·bə·ḵôr}, u-mishnehu {וּמִשְׁנֵהוּ | ū·mish·nê·hû}, and ve-ha-shlishi {וְהַשְּׁלִשִׁי | wə·haš·lî·šî} specifying birth order. The English smooths genitives and ordinals while preserving the Hebrew’s hierarchical and appositional emphasis. |