| 3. Linguistic Exegesis The verse employs a sequence of vav-consecutive verbs—vayelekh {וַיֵּ֗לֶךְ | way-yē-leḵ} ‘and he went’, vayyaavod {וֽ͏ַיַּעֲבֹד֙ | way-ya-‘ă-ḇōḏ} ‘and he served’, and vayishtakhu {וַיִּשְׁתַּ֖חוּ | way-yish-ta-ḥû} ‘and he prostrated himself’—each advancing the narrative. The phrase lekoltseva hashamayim {לְכָל־צְבָ֥א הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם | lə-ḵōl-ṣə-vāʾ ha-šā-ma-yim} forms a construct chain ‘to all the host of the heavens’, designating every celestial entity as a forbidden object of worship. The coordinating conjunction o {אוֹ | ʾō} ‘or’ introduces disjunctive alternatives, emphasizing the range of prohibited worship targets. The relative pronoun asher {אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾă-šer} ‘which’ connects to the clause lotsiviti {לֹא־צִוִּֽיתִי | lō-ṣî-wî-ṯî} ‘I did not command’, asserting divine authority and underscoring the exclusivity of legitimate worship. |