| 15. Linguistic Exegesis The Hebrew clause begins with ki {כִּי | kî} ‘if/when,’ introducing a legal condition. The imperfect verb tihyēnā {תִהְיֶ֨ינָ | tihyēnā} “there are or will be” sets a hypothetical scenario, followed by the construct chain lĕ’îsh šĕṯê nāšîm {לְאִישׁ שְׁתֵּי נָשִׁים | lə’îš šĕṯê nāšîm} “to a man two wives.” The paired participial phrases hā’aḥat ’ăḥūvāh and wə-hā’aḥat sĕnû’āh {הָאַחַת אֲהוּבָה וְהָאַחַת שְׂנוּאָה | hā’aḥat ’ăḥūvāh wə-hā’aḥat sĕnû’āh} emphasize contrasting spousal status. The perfect verb wə-yāldū-lō {וְיָֽלְדוּ־לוֹ | wə-yāldū-lō} “and they bear to him” introduces the joint motherhood, with hā’ăḥūvāh wə-hasĕnû’āh {הָאֲהוּבָה וְהַשְּׂנוּאָה | hā’ăḥūvāh wə-ha-sĕnû’āh} marking both wives bearing sons. The presentational wə-hāyāh hā-bēn hābhăkôr la-sĕnî’āh {וְהָיָה הַבֵּן הַבְּכוֹר לַשְּׂנִיאָה | wə-hāyāh hā-bēn hābhăkôr la-sĕnî’āh} climactically assigns the firstborn son to the unloved wife, underlining inheritance implications. English structure preserves the conditional protasis and parallelism of Hebrew participial and verbal clauses. |