| 14. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the perfect of perception shame'u {שָֽׁמְע֥וּ | šāmə-ʿû} ‘they have heard’ followed by the imperfect yirgazun {יִרְגָּז֑וּן | yirgāzûn} ‘they tremble’, establishing a hearing-to-trembling sequence. The noun khil {חִ֣יל | ḥîl} ‘anguish’ is then coupled with the perfect verb ahaz {אָחַ֔ז | ’āḥaz} ‘he seized’, personifying fear as an active force. Finally, the construct chain yoshvei P'leshet {יֹשְׁבֵ֖י פְּלָֽשֶׁת | yôšĕḇê Pəlāšeṯ} ‘inhabitants of Philistia’ links the emotional action to a specific group. This perfect-imperfect-perfect structure and parallelism intensify the depiction of widespread and targeted terror. |