| 9. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative begins with the wayyiqtol verb wayyichad {וַיִּחַדְּ | wayyiḥad} ‘and he rejoiced’, creating a marked verb–subject order by placing Jethro {יִתְרוֹ | yiṯrô} immediately after to highlight his emotional response. The prepositional phrase ʿal kol-haṭṭôvāh {עַל כָּל־הַטּוֹבָה | ʿal kāl-ha-ṭô-vāh} ‘over all the goodness’ functions as the object of rejoicing, combining the universal quantifier kol with the definite noun to present Yahweh’s actions as a totality. The relative clause ʾăšer-ʿāśāh {אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה | ʾă-šer-ʿā-śāh} ‘that he had done’ attributes those acts directly to Yahweh, then lə-yisraʾēl {לְיִשְׂרָאֵל | lə-yiś-rā-ʾēl} specifies the beneficiary. A second clause introduced by ʾăšer {אֲשֶׁר | ʾă-šer} ‘that’ focuses on the specific act hiṣṣîlô {הִצִּיל֖וֹ | hiṣ-ṣî-lô} ‘he rescued him’ from mi-yad miṣrāyim {מִיַּד מִצְרָיִם | mî-yad miṣ-rā-yim}, employing the idiom “hand of Egypt” to denote power. The structure moves from the general reaction to a broad characterization of divine benevolence, then narrows to the climactic deliverance, mirroring the Hebrew emphasis sequence. |