| 13. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative opens with the vav-consecutive Hitpael vayithallal {וַיִּתְהַלָּל | wayyiṯ-hallāl} ‘and he behaved crazily’, indicating a deliberate act of deception. The circumstantial clause be'enehem ke'ish meshugah {בְּעֵינֵיהֶם כְּאִישׁ מְשׁוּגָע | bə-ʿê-nāy-hēm kə-ʾîš mə-šû-ḡāʿ} ‘in their eyes as a madman’ ties perception to manner. The clause vayyasekh cherpah al-pi ha-sha'ar {וַיָּשֶׂךְ חֶרְפָּה עַל־פִּי הַשַּׁעָר | wayyā-śeḥ ḥer-pāḥ ʿal-pî ha-šaʿ-ʾār} is rendered as scratching at the gate entrance to reflect the act of defiling the city’s threshold. The coordinate clause wə-hā-yāḥ bə-yaḏ-dām {וְהָיָה בְיַדָּם | wə-hā-yāḥ bə-yaḏ-dām} ‘and he was in their hands’ conveys his captivity. Finally ū-māl ʿā-lāw la-rə-šûṯ {וּמָל עָלָיו לַרְשׁוּת | ū-māl ʿā-lāw la-rə-šûṯ} describes saliva trickling down his beard under the authority of his captors, rounding out the sequence of actions that reinforce his feigned madness. |