| 30. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative opens with the vav-consecutive construction vayhi {וַיְהִי֙ | wayhî} ‘and it happened’, a device introducing a shift in the story. The pronoun hemmah {הֵמָּה | hēmâh} ‘they’ together with the circumstantial phrase ba-derekh {בַדֶּרֶךְ | ba-dereḵ} ‘on the way’ locates the subjects in motion. The conjunction ve-hashmuʿah {וְהַשְּׁמֻעָה | wə-šə-mû-ʿāh} ‘and the report’ is matched by the feminine perfect baʾah {בָּאָה | bāʾā} ‘came’, agreeing in gender. The prepositional phrase el david {אֶל־דָּוִד | ʾel dāwîḏ} ‘to David’ marks the recipient. The infinitive leemor {לֵאמֹ֑ר | lēʾemor} ‘to say’ introduces direct speech. The hiphil perfect hiqqah {הִכָּה | hiqqāh} ‘has struck down’ attributes the causative action to avshalom {אַבְשָׁלוֹם | ʾavšālōm}, with et marking the definite object kol bene hamelech {כָּל־בְּנֵ֣י הַמֶּלֶךְ | kol bənê hameleḵ} ‘all the king’s sons.’ The clause we-loʾ notar mehem echad {וְלֹֽא־נוֹתַ֥ר מֵהֶ֖ם אֶחָֽד | wə-lōʾ nōṯar mēhem ʾeḥāḏ} forms a passive result clause ‘and not one remains of them’, reinforcing the absolute scope of the action. English translation preserves the narrative flow by maintaining the vav-consecutive signal and the sequence of events. |