| 26. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the wayyiqtol form veshaftu {וְשָׁפְטוּ | wə-šāpəṭû} ‘and they judged’, signaling a habitual judicial role. The direct object et-haam {אֶת־הָעָם | ʾeṯ-hā-ʿām} defines the scope of their authority. Bekol-et {בְּכָל־עֵת | bə-ḵāl-ʿēt} functions as an adverbial of time indicating continuous availability. In the clause et-hadavar haqqāšeh yeviun el-mosheh {אֶת־הַדָּבָר הַקָּשֶׁה יְבִיאוּן אֶל־מֹשֶׁה | ʾeṯ-had-dāḇār haqqāšeh yə-ḇîʾûn ʾel-mōšeh}, fronting the difficult matter emphasizes referral of complex cases to Moses, with the Hiphil imperfect denoting repeated action. The parallel wə-kol-had-dāḇār haqqāṭōn yišpəṭû hēm {וְכָל־הַדָּבָר הַקָּטֹן יִשְׁפּוּטוּ הֵם | wə-ḵol-had-dāḇār haqqāṭōn yišpəṭû hēm} mirrors this pattern—fronted object, verb, and emphatic pronoun underscore the contrast between major and minor cases. The English reconstructions maintain the emphasis and habitual aspect while smoothing Hebrew word order. |