| 27. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the temporal formula bishnat {בִּשְׁנַ֨ת | bə-šə-nāṯ} ‘in the year of’ followed by the numeral phrase chamishim ushtayim {חֲמִשִּׁים וּשְׁתַּיִם | ḥă-mî-šîm u-šə-ṭay-yim} ‘fifty and two,’ which functions as the ordinal “fifty-second,” reflecting the regnal dating idiom in Kings. The noun shanah {שָׁנָה | šā-nā} ‘year’ appears both in the dating clause and in the final esrim shanah {עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה | ʿeś-rîm šā-nā} ‘twenty years,’ marking Pekah’s reign duration. The verb malakh {מָלַךְ | mā-laḵ} ‘he reigned/became king’ in Qal perfect conveys both accession and sustained rule. Proper names are linked by prepositional and construct chains, as in al-Yisrael be-Shomron {עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל בְּשֹׁמְרוֹן | al-yiś-rā-ʾēl bə-šom-rôn} ‘over Israel in Samaria,’ specifying jurisdiction and capital. In translation, the temporal clause leads, proper names retain Hebrew order, and “reigned” is selected to reflect narrative historicity while preserving the cardinal numeral phrase. |