| 16. Linguistic Exegesis The verse is driven by two sequential wayyiqtol verbs, vayanusu {וַיָּנ֥וּסוּ | wayyānusû} ‘and they fled’ followed by vayyitnem {וַיִּתְּנֵ֥ם | wayyittənēm} ‘and he gave them,’ creating a rapid cause-and-result movement in the battle narrative. The subject is first specified as bnei-yisrael {בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל | bənê-yiśrāʾēl} and then the action pivots to divine agency when elohim {אֱלֹהִ֖ים | ʾĕlōhîm} appears after the second verb, clarifying that the “giving over” is God’s decisive act. The prepositional phrase mipnei {מִפְּנֵ֣י | mippenê} ‘from before’ frames Judah as the immediate threat Israel withdraws from, while beyadam {בְּיָדָֽם | bə-yāḏām} ‘into their hand’ functions as a military-legal idiom for being placed under an opponent’s control. In English, the formal rendering keeps “before” and the “hand” idiom to retain the Hebraic imagery, while the dynamic rendering clarifies the implied referent (Judah’s forces) without changing the core transfer-of-control sense. |