| 2. Linguistic Exegesis The clause opens with the wayyiqtol verb vayyiqqach {וַיִּקַּח | way-yiq-qaḥ} ‘and he took,’ introducing a new action in the narrative. The subject yitro {יִתְרוֹ | yiṯ-rô} ‘Jethro’ is then followed by a construct chain choten moshe {חֹתֵן מֹשֶׁה | ḥō-tēn mō-šeh} ‘father-in-law of Moses,’ which identifies the relationship. The direct object marker et {אֶת | ʾeṯ} marks tsipporah eshet moshe {צִפֹּרָה אֵשֶׁת מֹשֶׁה | ṣip-pō-rāh ʾē-šeṯ mō-šeh} ‘Zipporah, the wife of Moses’ as the object, and the temporal phrase achar shillucheha {אַחַר שִׁלּוּחֶיהָ | ʾa-ḥar šil-lû-ḥe-hā} ‘after her sending away’ follows to indicate when the action took place. The Hebrew verb–subject–object structure is maintained in the formal reconstruction to reflect narrative pacing, while the dynamic translation restructures the temporal phrase into an initial subordinate clause for natural English flow. |