| 13. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with vayishkav {וַיִּשְׁכַּב | wayyiškab} ‘and he lay’, a conventional death formula introducing Asa {אָסָא | ʾāsā} followed by the construct phrase im-avotav {עִם־אֲבֹתָיו | ʿim-ʼāwōṯāw} ‘with his fathers’. The vav consecutive pair vayishkav…vayamat links burial imagery and death seamlessly. The temporal clause bishnat arbaʿim veachat le-malko {בִּשְׁנַת אַרְבָּעִים וְאַחַת לְמַלְכוֹ | bišnaṯ arbāʿīm wə-ḥaṯ lə-malkō} uses a preposition-construct-numeral chain for regnal dating. The English renderings preserve this sequence by maintaining burial, death, and precise regnal timing in order. |