| 14. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the vav-consecutive narrative sequence vayaʿan {וַיַּ֧עַן | wayyāʿan} ‘and he answered’ followed by vayyōmer {וַיֹּאמַ֑ר | wayyōmer} ‘and he said’, marking the introduction of direct speech. The interrogative ummî {וּמִ֤י | ummî} ‘and who’, with the prepositional phrase bə-ḵōl ʿăvâdeḵā {בְכָל־עֲבָדֶיךָ | among all your servants}, introduces a rhetorical comparison centering on kə-dāwîḏ {כְּדָוִד | David}, modified by the Niphal participle nəʾēmān {נֶאֱמָן | trustworthy}, conveying established reliability. The coordinate series vaḥaṭṭān … wə-sār … wə-nīkbaḏ lists David’s relational and official functions—son-in-law, officer to mišmaʿtekā {מִשְׁמַעְתֶּךָ | your command}, and honored in bə-bêyteḵā {בְּבֵיתֶךָ | your house}—preserving the cumulative emphasis and original Hebrew word order. |