| 19. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the narrative connector vayomer {וַיֹּאמֶר | wā-yo-mer} ‘and he said’, marking reported speech and shifting focus to the messenger. Achimaaz is identified by the construct phrase ben-Tzadok, establishing his lineage. Two successive cohortatives—ertsa-na {אֶרְצָה־נָּא | ’er-ṣāh-nā} ‘let me run’ and avasharah {וַאֲבַשְּׂרָה | wā-’ă-vaš-rāh} ‘let me bring news’—express both urgency and deference. The direct object marker ’et-ha-melekh {אֶת־הַמֶּלֶךְ | ’eṯ-ha-mé-lekh} highlights the king as recipient. A causal clause introduced by ki {כִּי | kî} ‘for/because’ precedes the verb shafato {שְׁפָטוֹ | še-pha-ṯô} ‘has vindicated him’, followed by miyad oyvav {מִיַּד אֹיְבָיו | mî-yad ’ô-yə-bāv} ‘from the hand of his enemies’, a Hebrew word order that foregrounds divine action, which English renders with a direct cause-effect sequence. |