| 19. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the narrative vav in vayomer {וַיֹּ֤אמֶר | vayyoʾmer} ‘and he said’, marking the shift to direct speech. The title hamelekh {הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙ | hamméleḵ} ‘the king’ functions as subject and addressee anchor. The interrogative lamah {לָ֧מָּה | lāmmāh} ‘why’ introduces a rhetorical question, followed by the imperfect verb telekh {תֵלֵ֛ךְ | tēlēḵ} ‘you go’, with gam {גַּם־ | gam} ‘also’ and atah {אַתָּה | ʾattāh} ‘you’ emphasizing voluntary participation. The imperatives shuv {שׁ֣וּב | šūv} ‘return’ and veshev {וְשֵׁ֤ב | wə-šēḇ} ‘and remain’ convey successive commands. The conjunction ki {כִּֽי־ | kî} ‘for’ introduces a causal clause characterizing Ittai as nakhri {נָכְרִ֣י | nāḵrî} ‘foreigner’ and, with the conjunctive vav-gam in vegam {וְגַם־ | wə-gam}, as goleh {גֹּלֶ֥ה | gōlē} ‘exile’, finalized by the phrase limqomekha {לִמְקוֹמֶֽךָ | limmqō-mēkā̆} ‘to your place’. The repeated pronoun and parallel structure underscore royal authority and the social distinction of a non-Israelite. |