| 5. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the vav-consecutive Qal perfect verbs vayyasem {וַיָּשֶׂם | wayyāsem} ‘and he put’ and vayyak {וַיַּךְ | wayyaḵ} ‘and he struck’, creating rapid sequential action that underscores personal risk. The phrase nafsho {נַפְשׁוֹ | nepešô} ‘soul, life’ combined with bekappo {בְּכַפּוֹ | bə-kappô} ‘in his hand’ forms an idiom for risking one’s life. The direct-object marker et {אֶת | ʾet} clearly introduces the object hap̄êlišṯî {הַפְּלִשְׁתִּי | hap̄êlišṯî} ‘the Philistine’. The vav-consecutive vayyaʿaś {וַיַּעַשׂ | wayyaʿaś} ‘and he made’ shifts to divine agency with the compound noun phrase tešûāh gedôlāh {תְּשׁוּעָה גְדוֹלָה | tešûāh gedôlāh} ‘great salvation’. The perfect forms rāʾîtā {רָאִיתָ | rāʾîtā} ‘you saw’ and wăṯišmāḥ {וַתִּשְׂמָח | wăṯišmāḥ} ‘and you rejoiced’ address the audience directly, while the interrogative wə-lāmmāh təḥeṭāʾ {וְלָמָּה תֶחֱטָא | wə-lāmmāh təḥeṭāʾ} ‘and why would you sin’ introduces a moral challenge, culminating in the infinitive lə-hā-mît {לְהָמִית | lə-hā-mît} ‘to kill’. The final clause contrasts divine deliverance with human wrongdoing through the accusative bedām nāqî {בְּדָם נָקִי | bə-dām nāqî} ‘innocent blood’, emphasizing the ethical stakes. |