| 9. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative opens with the vav-consecutive form vayomer {וַיֹּאמֶר | way-yō-mer} ‘and he said’, introducing direct speech hashalom attah achi {הֲשָׁלוֹם אַתָּה אָחִי | hă-šā-lōm ’ă-t-tāh ’ā-ḥî} ‘is it peace with you, my brother’. The verb vatochez {וַתֹּחֶז | wā-ṯō-ḥêz} ‘and it seized’ shifts grammatical subject to the feminine noun yad {יַד | yáḏ} ‘hand’. The construct chain yad-yemin yoav {יַד־יְמִין יוֹאָב | yáḏ-yə-mîn yô-ʾāḇ} ‘Joab’s right hand’ specifies the instrument. The prepositional phrase bizqan amasa {בִּזְקַן עֲמָשָׂא | bi-z’qān ʿă-mā-śā} ‘in the beard of Amasa’ highlights the culturally loaded gesture. The infinitive construct linschaklo {לִנְשָׁק־לוֹ | li-nə-šāq-lō} ‘to kiss him’ expresses purpose. The English rendering mirrors the Hebrew sequence by posing the greeting as a question, then clarifying the subject shift and instrument before the purpose clause. |