| 18. Linguistic Exegesis The verse is built as two coordinated narrative clauses introduced by wayyiqtol verbs: wayyikkānəʿû {וַיִּכָּנְע֥וּ | wayyikkānəʿû} ‘and they were subdued’ states Israel’s reversal, and wayyeʾemṣû {וַיֶּאֶמְצ֣וּ֙ | wayyeʾemṣû} ‘and they prevailed’ states Judah’s success. The subject bene-yisrael {בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל | bənê-yiśrāʾēl} is placed immediately after the first verb, foregrounding who experienced the subduing before the temporal locator bāʿêṯ hahîʾ {בָּעֵ֣ת הַהִ֑יא | bāʿêṯ hahîʾ} ‘in that time’ anchors the event. The second clause parallels the first with bene yəhûdāh {בְּנֵ֣י יְהוּדָ֔ה | bənê yəhûdāh}, producing a deliberate contrast between the two groups. The motivation is supplied by a causal kî-clause, kî nišʿănû {כִּ֣י נִשְׁעֲנ֔וּ | kî nišʿănû} ‘because they relied’, where the Niphal of šʿn frames trust as “leaning” for support, completed by ʿal-yəhōwāh {עַל־יְהוָ֖ה | ʿal-yəhōwāh} ‘upon the LORD’. The appositional title ʾĕlōhê ʾăbōtêhem {אֱלֹהֵ֥י אֲבוֹתֵיהֶֽם | ʾĕlōhê ʾăbōtêhem} ‘God of their fathers’ links Judah’s dependence to continuity with ancestral allegiance, so the English renderings preserve both the contrastive parallel outcomes and the explicit causal link. |