| 5. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the vav-consecutive prefixed verb vayavo {וַיָּבֹא | wayyāḇōʾ} ‘and he came’, establishing sequential narrative flow. The prepositional phrase el-ha-melekh {אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ | ʾel-hammeleḵ} ‘to the king’ and the directive ha-bayta {הַבָּיְתָה | habbāyṯāh} ‘into the house’ denote approach and entry into royal presence. The Hifil perfect form hovashta {הוֹבַשְׁתָּ | hōḇaštā} ‘you shamed’ conveys causative action, emphasizing the king as agent of disgrace. The construct chain et-penei kol-avadekha {אֶת־פְּנֵי כָל־עֲבָדֶיךָ | ʾet-pənê kol-ʿăwādeḵā} ‘the faces of all your servants’ idiomatically signals public shame. The Piel participle hamme-malləṭîm {הַמְּמַלְּטִים | hamme-malləṭîm} ‘those delivering’ functions as a relative participle describing the rescue role of the servants. The repetition of nefesh {נֶפֶשׁ | nep̄eš} ‘life’ in a series of construct chains with pronominal suffixes creates a merismus that underscores the comprehensive scope of preservation—from the king to his sons, daughters, wives, and concubines. In translation, the Hifil perfect is rendered with simple past to reflect causative nuance, and the participle construction is rendered as a relative clause to preserve Hebrew syntactic emphasis. |