| 19. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative opens with the vav-consecutive marker vayehi {וַיְהִ֣י | wayhî} ‘and it was,’ introducing a new episode. The idiom leyamim miyamim {לְיָמִים מִיָּמִים | lə-yāmîm mî-yāmîm} ‘for days upon days’ establishes an indefinite duration by repeating the noun. The phrase uche’et tset hakets {וּכְעֵת צֵאת הַקֵּץ | u-kə-ʿēt ṣêʾt ha-qêṣ} functions as a temporal clause specifying the close of two years. In yats’u me’avav im-cholyo {יָצְאוּ מֵעָיו עִם־חָלְי֔וֹ | yāṣʾû mê-ʿāw ʿim-ḥālyô}, the perfect verb portrays the violent expulsion of internal parts due to illness. The vav-consecutive vayamat {וַיָּ֖מָת | wayyāmat} introduces the result clause betachalu’im ra’im {בְּתַחֲלֻאִ֣ים רָעִים | bə-taḥallûʾîm rāʿîm}, where the adjective rāʿîm intensifies the diseases. The final clause velo-asu lo amo serefah kisrefat avotav {וְלֹא־עָשׂוּ ל֥וֹ עַמּוֹ שְׂרֵפָה כִּשְׂרֵפַת אֲבֹתָֽיו | wə-lō-ʿāśû lōw ʿammô śərəp̄â kə-śrēp̄at ʾăbôṯāw} uses a negative perfect to underscore the dishonor of omitting the ancestral funerary practice. The English rendering preserves the Hebrew sequence and clarifies cultural context. |