| 21. Linguistic Exegesis In this regnal notice the phrase ben esrim u-shteyim shanah {בֶּן־עֶשְׂרִֽים וּשְׁתַּ֛יִם שָׁנָ֖ה | ben-ʿeṣrîm ū-šə-ṯayīm šā-nāh} forms a construct chain specifying age as “son of twenty and two years.” The prepositional phrase be-malkho {בְּמָלְכ֑וֹ | bə-mā-l-kô} “in his reign” marks the commencement of kingship, followed by the perfect verb malakh {מָלַ֖ךְ | mā-lakh} “he reigned,” which denotes completed action. The coordinating clause ū-shtayim šā-nîm {וּשְׁתַּיִם שָׁנִים | ū-šə-ṯayīm šā-nîm} specifies the duration of his reign. The locative bi-yerushalayim {בִּֽירוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִם | bi-rû-šā-lā-yim} “in Jerusalem” situates the rule geographically. Hebrew regnal formulas typically follow a topic–comment structure, leading with temporal nouns before the verb and omitting an explicit subject pronoun for concise chronology. |