| 18. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the inclusive subject vechol haam {וְכָל־הָעָם | wə-ḵāl-hā-ʿām} ‘and all the people’, emphasizing collective witness. The participle roim {רֹאִ֨ים | rō-ʾîm} ‘seeing’ frames the sensory phenomena as an ongoing experience before the narrative shifts into a sequence of wayyiqtol verbs. The repeated direct object markers et {אֶת / וְאֶת / וְאֵת | ʾeṯ / wə-ʾeṯ / wə-ʾeṯ} introduce a cumulative list of theophanic manifestations: kolot {הַקּוֹלֹ֜ת | ha-kkō-lōt} ‘voices’, hallapidim {הַלַּפִּידִם | hal-lap-pî-ḏîm} ‘flashes of fire’, qol hashofar {ק֣וֹל הַשֹּׁפָ֔ר | qōl ha-šō-pār} ‘sound of the trumpet’, and hahar ashen {עָשֵׁ֑ן | hā-hār ʿā-šēn} ‘the mountain smoking’. The narrative then moves through vayar {וַיַּ֤רְא | way-yarʾ} ‘and saw’, vayanū {וַיָּנֻ֔עוּ | way-yā-nu-ʿû} ‘and trembled’, and vayaamdu {וַיּֽ͏ַעַמְד֖וּ | way-ya-ʿam-dû} ‘and stood’, culminating in merachoq {מֵֽרָחֹק | mē-rā-ḥōq} ‘from afar’, which conveys the people’s reverent withdrawal. This structure emphasizes the overpowering nature of the divine manifestation and the human response of awe, fear, and separation. |