| 16. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with vayhi {וַיְהִי | wa-yəhî} ‘and it was’, the narrative wayyiqtol marking. The temporal expression bayom hashlishi {בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁי | bay-yôm haš-šə-lî-šî} ‘on the third day’ is followed by the infinitival circumstantial bihyot haboker {בִּהְיֹת הַבֹּקֶר | bih-yōṯ ha-bō-qer} ‘when it was morning’. A second vayhi {וַיְהִי | wa-yəhî} introduces the coordinated phenomena kolot {קֹלֹת | qō-lōṯ} ‘sounds’, uberakim {וּבְרָקִים | û-və-rā-qîm} ‘and lightnings’, and veanan kaved al-hahar {וְעָנָן כָּבֵד עַל־הָהָר | və-ʿā-nān kā-vē-ḏ ʿal-hā-hār} ‘and a heavy cloud upon the mountain’. The asyndetic list heightens the sensory portrayal. The clause vekol shofar chazak meod {וְקֹל שֹׁפָר חָזָק מְאֹד | wə-qōl šō-fār ḥā-zāq mə-ʾōḏ} places emphasis on the intense blast from the horn. The final wayyiqtol vayechrad {וַיֶּחֱרַד | way-ye-ḥe-rad} ‘and trembled’ takes kol-haam asher bamachaneh {כָּל־הָעָם אֲשֶׁר בַּמַּחֲנֶה | kōl-hā-ʿām ʾă-šer bam-ma-ḥă-neh} ‘all the people who were in the camp’ as subject. English rendering uses varied verbs and punctuation to preserve the accumulating effect and clear causality between phenomena and people’s reaction. |