| 15. Linguistic Exegesis The verse is built as a chain of identifications followed by a rapid sequence of actions. The opening vegam {וְגַם | wəgam} ‘and also’ links this purge to the ongoing reform narrative. The object et-hamizbeach {אֶת־הַמִּזְבֵּחַ | ʾeṯ-ham-mizbēaḥ} ‘the altar’ is immediately specified by asher {אֲשֶׁר | ʾăšer} ‘which/that’ clauses: first location, bbeit-el {בְּבֵית־אֵל | bəvêt-ʾēl} ‘in Bethel’, then an appositional label habamah {הַבָּמָה | hab-bāmâ} ‘the high place’, and then authorship, asah {עָשָׂה | ʿāśâ} ‘he made’ with yaravam {יָרָבְעָם | yārāḇəʿām} ‘Jeroboam’. A further relative clause characterizes Jeroboam with hecheti {הֶחֱטִיא | heḥeṭîʾ} ‘he caused to sin’, placing moral weight on the establishment. The adverb gam {גַּם | gam} resumes focus and, together with the demonstrative hahu {הַהוּא | hahûʾ} ‘that’, re-points to the already-described altar and its associated high place before the decisive verb natatz {נָתַץ | nāṭaṣ} ‘he tore down’. The narrative then accelerates with wayyiśrōp̄ {וַיִּשְׂרֹף | wayyiśrōp̄} ‘and he burned’, followed by the intensive hedaq ləʿāp̄ār {הֵדַק לְעָפָר | hēdaq ləʿāp̄ār} ‘he crushed (it) to dust’, expressing thorough eradication. The final wəśārap̄ {וְשָׂרַף | wəśārap̄} ‘and he burned’ adds the climactic removal of the asherah {אֲשֵׁרָה | ʾăšērâ} ‘Asherah’, completing the purge of illicit worship objects. |