| 17. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative employs successive vav-consecutive verbs: vayya'alu {וַיַּעֲל֤וּ | va-ya-‘ăl-lū} ‘and they went up,’ vayivqa'uhu {וַיִּבְקָע֔וּהָ | va-yi-vqa-‘û-hā} ‘and they broke it open,’ and vayishbū {וַיִּשְׁבּ֗וּ | va-yi-šib-bū} ‘and they took captive,’ to depict a continuous sequence of hostile actions. The construct kol-harekhush {כָּל־הָרְכוּשׁ֙ | kal-hā-rə-ḵûš} ‘all the possessions’ marks totality of plunder, while the Niphal participle hanimtza {הַנִּמְצָא | han-nim-ṣā’} ‘that were found’ qualifies available items. Possession is shown by the construct levet-hamelekh {לְבֵית־הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ | lə-wêṯ-ham-mê-lēḵ} ‘to the house of the king,’ and by vegambanav {וְגַם־בָּנָ֖יו | və-ḡam-bā-nāyw} ‘and also his sons’ and vennashav {וְנָשָׁ֑יו | və-nā-šāyw} ‘and his wives.’ The negation velo {וְלֹ֤א | və-lō’} ‘and not’ with nish'ar-lo {נִשְׁאַר־לוֹ֙ | niš-’ār-lō} ‘was left to him’ sets up the exception im-yehoachaz {אִם־יְהוֹאָחָ֖ז | ’im-Yə-hō-’ā-ḥāz} ‘except Jehoahaz,’ qualified by qeton {קְטֹ֥ן | qə-ṭōn} ‘youngest’ banav {בָּנָֽיו | bā-nāyw} ‘of his sons,’ creating a single heir outlier that heightens the totalizing effect. The English rendering preserves the momentum of successive actions and underscores the emphatic exception by contrast. |