| 17. Linguistic Exegesis The verse presents a cumulative list: u'elef {וּאֵלֶף | wə-ʾê-lep} ‘and a thousand’ establishes the main subject, followed by mibēnyāmīn {מִבִּנְיָמִן | mib-bī-nyā-mīn} ‘from Benjamin.’ The coordinating wə-ṣīḇā {וְצִיבָא | wə-ṣī-ḇā} ‘and Ziba’ introduces the proper name, with nāʿār bēṯ-šāʼûl {נַעַר בֵּית־שָׁאוּל | nāʿār bēt-šāʼûl} ‘servant of the house of Saul’ modifying his role. The numeral phrase və-ḥameisháh ʿā-sār bānāyw {וְחֲמֵשָׁה עָשָׂר בָּנָיו | və-ḥa-mei-šāh ʿā-sār bānāyw} ‘and fifteen his sons’ and wə-ʿeśrīm ʿăḇādāyw {וְעֶשְׂרִים עֲבָדָיו | wə-ʿeś-rîm ʿă-ḇā-dāyw} ‘and twenty his servants’ creates cumulative emphasis. The verb clause wə-ṣāləḥū ha-yarḏēn {וְצָלְחוּ הַיַּרְדֵּן | wə-ṣā-lə-ḥū ha-yar-ḏēn} ‘and they crossed the Jordan’ uses the perfect tense for sequential narrative action, with li-p̄nē ham-mēlekh {לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ | li-p̄-nē ham-mē-lekh} ‘before the king’ situating the group relative to royal authority. |