| 7. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with a vav-consecutive verb vayeda {וַיֵּדַע | way-yē-ḏaʿ} ‘and he knew’, marking the start of a narrative sequence and introducing action toward almenotav {אַלְמְנוֹתָיו | almenōṯāw} ‘their widows’. The conjunction wə- then links to hechriv {הֶחֱרִיב | he-ḥĕ-rîḇ} ‘he laid waste’ as the main destructive verb with veareihem {וְעָרֵיהֶם | wə-ʿārêhēm} ‘their cities’ as its object. This is followed by vattesham {וַתֵּשַׁם | wat-tē-šam} ‘and it became appalled’, attributing a personified emotional response to eretz umeloah {אֶרֶץ וּמְלֹאָהּ | ʾereṣ ū-mə-lō-ʾāh} ‘land and its fullness’. The prepositional phrase miqqol shaagato {מִקּוֹל שַׁאֲגָתוֹ | miqqōl shaʾăgāṯō} ‘from the sound of his roaring’ provides the causal explanation for this devastation, reinforcing the lion-like imagery from earlier context. |