| 11. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the narrative formula vehayah {וְהָיָ֗ה | wə-hā-yāh} introducing the event. A temporal clause with kaasher {כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר | ka-ʾă-šer} governs the Hifil imperfect yarim {יָרִ֥ים | yā-rîm} “he lifts up” and its object yado {יָד֖וֹ | yā-dô} “his hand.” The result clause uses the Qal perfect vegavar {וְגָבַר | wə-gā-var} with Yisrael {יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל | yiś-rā-ʾēl} as subject. A parallel clause introduced by vekaasher {וְכַאֲשֶׁ֥ר | wə-ka-ʾă-šer} with yaniach {יָנִ֛יחַ | yā-nî-aḥ} “he lets rest” repeats the structure, followed by vegavar and Amalek {עֲמָלֵֽק | ʿă-mā-lēq}. This chiastic parallelism underscores the causal link between Moses’s raised or lowered hand and the battle’s outcome. Hebrew perfect forms convey resulting states, rendered as “prevailed” (formal), “gained the advantage,” and “began to gain ground” (dynamic) to preserve the temporal-result relationship. |