| 12. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins by fronting videi {וִידֵי | wî-ḏê} ‘hands-of’ in construct with Moshe {מֹשֶׁה | mō-šeh}, establishing the affected body part as the topic. The adjective kevedim {כְּבֵדִים | kə-ḇê-ḏîm} ‘heavy’ predicates his physical condition. A sequence of wayyiqtol verbs—vayikchu {וַיִּקְחוּ | way-yiq-ḥû} ‘took,’ vayasimu {וַיָּשִׂימוּ | way-yā-śî-mû} ‘placed,’ and vayeshev {וַיֵּשֶׁב | way-yê-šeḇ} ‘sat’—drives the narrative momentum. Spatial markers takhtav {תַחְתָּיו | taḥ-tāw} ‘under him’ and aleha {עָלֶיהָ | ʿā-lê-hā} ‘on it’ locate Moses on the stone. The coordinated subjects veAharon {וְאַהֲרֹן | wə-ʾa-hă-rōn} and veChur {וְח֜וּר | wə-ḥûr} introduce Aaron and Hur, and tamchu {תָּמְכוּ | tām-khû} ‘supported’ with beyadav {בְיָדָיו | bə-yā-ḏāw} ‘in his hands’ describes their aid in a distributive pattern marked by mizzeh echad {מִזֶּה אֶחָד | miz-zeh ʾe-ḥāḏ} ‘one on this side’ and umizzeh echad {וּמִזֶּה אֶחָד | ū-miz-zeh ʾe-ḥāḏ} ‘one on that side.’ The clause vayehi yadav emunah {וַיְהִי יָדָיו אֱמוּנָה | way-ə-hî yā-ḏāw ʾe-mû-nāh} employs a nominal predicate ‘his hands were firmness,’ and adbo hashemesh {עַד־בֹּא הַשָּׁמֶשׁ | ʿaḏ-bōʾ haš-šā-meš} ‘until the sun came’ extends the action to sunset. |