| 34. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the interrogative particle ayyeh {אַיֵּה֩ | ʾayyēh} ‘where’ used twice to introduce a series of taunting questions. Each instance of elohei {אֱלֹהֵ֨י | ʾĕlōhê} ‘gods of’ forms a construct chain with the following city names—ḥamat {חֲמָ֜ת | ḥă·māṯ}, ʾarpād {אַרְפָּ֗ד | ʾăr·pāḏ}, sepharvayim {סְפַרְוַ֖יִם | səpharvayim}, hena {הֵנַ֣ע | hēnāʿ}, ivvāh {עִוָּ֑ה | ʿivvāh}—creating parallelism that underscores their collective impotence. The hiphil perfect verb hitsîlû {הִצִּ֥ילוּ | hitsîlû} conveys causative “deliver,” here framed interrogatively to question divine agency. The direct object marker ʾet {אֶת־ | ʾet} explicitly marks šōmrōn {שֹׁמְר֖וֹן | šōmrōn} ‘Samaria’ as the object, and the idiom miyyāḏî {מִיָּדִֽי | miyyāḏî} ‘from my hand’ expresses possession or power. Overall, the rhetorical structure uses repeated questions and construct parallelism to mock the effectiveness of foreign deities. |