| 3. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative uses a series of vav-consecutive verbs—vayashav {וַיָּשָׁב | wayyā-šāb} ‘and he returned’, vayiven {וַיִּבֶן | wayyī-ḇen} ‘and he built’, vayyaqem {וַיָּקֶם | wayyā-qēm} ‘and he erected’, vayyaʿaś {וַיַּעַשׂ | wayya-ʿaś} ‘and he made’, vayyishtāḥû {וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ | wayyī-štā-ḥû} ‘and he prostrated’, and vayyaʿăḇōd {וַיַּעֲבֹד | wayya-ʿă-ḇōḏ} ‘and he served’—to link actions in historical sequence. The direct object marker et {אֶת | ʾet} introduces the definite object ha-bamot {הַבָּמוֹת | ha-ḇā-mōṯ} ‘the high places’, denoting unauthorized worship sites. The comparative clause ka-ʾašer ʿāsāh ʾAḥʾāv melek yiśrāʾēl {כַּאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה אַחְאָב מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל} parallels Manasseh’s actions with Ahab’s. The phrase le-kol ṣəḇāʾ haššāmayim {לְכָל־צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם} ‘to all the host of the heavens’ designates astral deities. English renders the Hitpael stem in vayyishtāḥû reflexively as ‘prostrated himself’, preserving its nuance, and integrates the sequence fluidly while reflecting the Hebrew chaining. |