| 14. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative unfolds through vav-consecutive clauses, with wayyābōʾ {וַיָּבֹא֙ | wayyāḇōʾ} ‘and he came’ followed by wayyōmer {וַיֹּאמֶר | wayyōmer} ‘and he said’, establishing sequential action. The construct phrase Yəšaʿyāhûʾ hannāḇîʾ {יְשַׁעְיָהוּ הַנָּבִיא | Yəšaʿyāhûʾ hannāḇîʾ} ‘Isaiah the prophet’ functions as an appositional identification of the subject. Two coordinated interrogative clauses, māh ʾāmrû hāʾănāšîm hāʾēlleh {מָה אָמְרוּ הָאֲנָשִׁים הָאֵלֶּה | māh ʾāmrû hāʾănāšîm hāʾēlleh} ‘what did these men say’ and ūməʾayin yāḇōʾû ʾēleḵā {וּמֵאַיִן יָבֹאוּ אֵלֶיךָ | ūməʾayin yāḇōʾû ʾēleḵā} ‘and from where did they come to you’, maintain Hebrew question order. In response, the locative phrase mēʾereṣ reḥōqāh {מֵאֶרֶץ רְחוֹקָה | mēʾereṣ reḥōqāh} ‘from a distant land’ is fronted before bāʾû {בָּאוּ | bāʾû} ‘they came’ for emphasis, with mibbāvel {מִבָּבֶל | mibbāvel} specifying Babylon. The English rendition preserves past narrative tense and the Hebrew’s structural and emphatic features. |