| 36. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with veyeter {וְיֶתֶר | wə-yé-ter} ‘the remainder’, a formula indicating additional royal material. The construct chain divrei Yotam {דִּבְרֵי יוֹתָם | dib-rế yō-tām} ‘words of Jotham’ identifies the subject deeds, and the relative pronoun asher {אֲשֶׁר | ă-šer} ‘that’ plus the perfect verb asah {עָשָׂה | ʿā-śāh} ‘he did’ specify those actions. The negative interrogative halohem {הֲלֹא־הֵם | ha-lō-hem} ‘are they not’ implies affirmation in Hebrew rhetorical style. The participle ketuvim {כְּתוּבִים | kə-tū-vím} ‘written’ conveys the recorded state, and the prepositional chain al sefer divrei hayamim lemalchei Yehudah {עַל־סֵפֶר דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים לְמַלְכֵי יְהוּדָה | ʿal-sē-per dib-rế ha-yā-mim lə-mal-khế yə-hū-dāh} ‘in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah’ locates the archival source. The translation preserves Hebrew word order for fidelity and renders passive structures and the rhetorical question in idiomatic English. |