| 1. Linguistic Exegesis The verse features a sequence of narrative conjunctions wayyiškav {וַיִּשְׁכַּב | wayyiškav} ‘and he lay down’, wayyiḳberû {וַיִּקְבְּרוּ | wayyiḳberû} ‘and they buried’, and wayyimlōḵ {וַיִּמְלֹךְ | wayyimlōḵ} ‘and he reigned’, which together signal a rapid progression of events. The euphemistic construct ʿim-ʾăˈvôtāw {עִם־אֲבוֹתָיו | ʿim-ʾăˈvôtāw} ‘with his fathers’ denotes death and ancestral burial, specifically locating the interment in the royal burial site of dāwîḏ (bəʿîr dāwîḏ {בְּעִיר דָּוִיד | bəʿîr dāwîḏ}). The fronted perfect šāqəṭâ {שָׁקְטָה | šāqəṭâ} ‘was quiet’ places emphasis on the period of tranquility, further quantified by the temporal expression ʿeśer šānîm {עֶשֶׂר שָׁנִים | ʿeśer šānîm} ‘ten years’. In English the clauses are separated to preserve the rapid narrative flow from death and burial to succession and peace. |