| 26. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with vayomer {וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ | wayyōmer} ‘and he said’, a vav-consecutive verb marking direct speech, followed by Avshalom {אַבְשָׁל֔וֹם | ʾAvšālôm} as the speaker. The conjunction valo {וָלֹ֕א | wālōʾ} ‘and not’ introduces a corrective alternative, leading into the entreaty yelekh-na {יֵֽלֶךְ־נָ֥א | yēleḵ-nāʾ} ‘let him please go’. The prepositional phrase ittanu {אִתָּ֖נוּ | ʾittānū} ‘with us’ expresses collective inclusion, emphasized by achi {אָחִ֑י | ʾaḥî} ‘my brother’. The second vayomer {וַיֹּ֤אמֶר | wayyōmer} shifts to the king’s response, with hammelekh {הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ | hammēleḵ} ‘the king’ and the interrogative lamah {לָ֥מָּה | lāmâ} ‘why’, followed by the clause yelekh imakh {יֵלֵ֖ךְ עִמָּֽךְ | yēleḵ ʿimmak} ‘should he go with you’. The Hebrew uses back-to-back vav-consecutive verbs to frame the petition and the inquiry, while the English renders these shifts into natural speech order without losing narrative force. |