| 9. Linguistic Exegesis The verse advances by a chain of narrative wayyiqtol forms—wayyaal {וַיַּ֨עַל | way-yaʿal} ‘and he came up’ followed by repeated wayyiqqach {וַיִּקַּ֞ח | way-yiqqaḥ} ‘and he took’—creating rapid, cumulative action. The targets are set in parallel through two construct chains: beit-Yahweh {בֵּית־יְהוָה | bêt-Yahweh} ‘house of the LORD’ and beit hammelekh {בֵּית הַמֶּלֶךְ | bêt hammeleḵ} ‘house of the king’, highlighting the plundering of both worship and government. Direct object marking with et- {אֶת־ | ʾet} repeatedly foregrounds what is removed, while the resumptive clause et-hakol {אֶת־הַכֹּל | ʾet-hakkol} ‘everything’ with the perfect lakach {לָקָח | lāqaḥ} ‘he took’ functions as a totalizing summary within the sequence. The final object, et-maginei hazahav {אֶת־מָגִנֵּי הַזָּהָב | ʾet-māginnê hazzāhāḇ} ‘the gold shields’, is further defined by the relative asher {אֲשֶׁר | ʾăšer} ‘which/that’ plus asah {עָשָׂה | ʿāśâ} ‘he made’, attaching the loss specifically to Shelomoh {שְׁלֹמֹה | šəlōmōh} and intensifying the reversal: what once displayed royal glory is now spoil. |