| 18. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the coordinated subject veha-har Sinai {וְהַר סִינַי | wə-har sî-nay} ‘and Mount Sinai’, followed by the Qal perfect ashan {עָשַׁן | ʿā-šan} ‘smoked’, a verb–subject order that foregrounds the completed divine effect. The adverbial kulo {כֻּלּוֹ | kul-lô} ‘all of it’ intensifies the mountain’s total envelopment. The causal relative mipnei asher {מִפְּנֵי אֲשֶׁר | mip-pə-nê ʾă-šer} ‘because that’ introduces the reason, fulfilled by the wayyiqtol clause yarad ʿalav Yahweh ba-ʾesh {יָרַד עָלָיו יְהוָה בָּאֵשׁ | yā-rad ʿā-lāw Yə-hō-wāh bā-ʾêš} ‘the LORD descended upon it in the fire’, where the interposed divine name highlights agency. The narrative shifts to upward motion with vayyaʿal {וַיַּעַל | way-yaʿ-al} ‘and went up’, whose subject ashano {עֲשָׁנוֹ | ʿă-šā-nô} ‘its smoke’ contrasts with the prior descent. The simile keeshen ha-kivshan {כְּעֶשֶׁן הַכִּבְשָׁן | kə-ʿe-šen ha-kiv-šān} ‘like the smoke of the furnace’ evokes a vivid kiln image, and the final wayyiqtol vayyecherad {וַיֶּחֱרַד | way-ye-ḥe-rad} ‘and trembled’, with subject kol-hahar {כָּל־הָהָר | kol-hā-har} ‘the whole mountain’ plus meod {מְאֹד | mə-ʾōd} ‘exceedingly’, culminates the theophanic display. English renders the wayyiqtol sequence with “was smoking,” “came down,” “rose,” and “trembled,” connects the reason with “because,” and preserves the simile with “like.” |