| 26. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative opens with the discourse marker vayomer {וַיֹּ֤אמֶר | wayyōmer} ‘and he said’, a vav-consecutive imperfect that signals sequential divine speech. Yahweh {יְהוָה֙ | Yəhwāh} as subject occupies the emphatic second position, marking authoritative address. The imperative nteh {נְטֵ֥ה | n'tēh} ‘stretch out’ issues a direct command to Mosheh {מֹשֶׁה | mōšēh}. The syntactic object et {אֶת־ | ʾet} ‘direct object marker’ introduces yadkha {יָדְךָ֖ | yāḏkā} ‘your hand’ as the locus of divine agency. The prepositional phrase al-hayam {עַל־הַיָּ֑ם | ʿal hayyam} ‘over the sea’ establishes the scene of action. The subsequent clause begins with the waw-consecutive veyashuvu {וְיָשֻׁ֤בוּ | wə-yāšûw} ‘and they will return’, indicating result. Hamayim {הַמַּ֙יִם֙ | hammayim} ‘the waters’ functions as subject-agent driving the reversal. A triad of prepositional phrases (al-mitsrayim, al-rikhbo, ve-al-parashav) distributes the waters’ effect over Egypt, its chariots, and its horsemen, forming a solemn cumulative parallelism that underscores both divine judgment and deliverance. |