| 48. Linguistic Exegesis The verse uses a sequence of vav-consecutive verbs to create urgency, beginning with vehayah {וְהָיָה֙ | wə-hā-yāh} ‘and it happened’, followed by qam {קָ֣ם | qām} ‘he arose’, way-yē-leḵ {וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ | way-yē-leḵ} ‘and he went’, way-yik-rav {וַיִּקְרַ֖ב | way-yik-rav} ‘and he drew near’, way-mah-hēr {וַיְמַהֵ֣ר | way-mah-hēr} ‘and he hurried’, and way-yā-rat͟s {וַיָּ֥רָץ | way-yā-rat͟s} ‘and he ran’. The infinitive construct liqrāʾat {לִקְרַ֣את | liqrāʾat} marks purpose ‘to meet’, and the construct chain ham-maʿ-ā-ra-ḵāh {הַמַּעֲרָכָה | ham-maʿ-ā-ra-ḵāh} situates the action in a military context. English retains temporal connectors and parallel verb placement to mirror the Hebrew’s escalating immediacy. |