| 12. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the wayyiqtol verb vayikchu {וַיִּקְחוּ | way·yiq·ḥû} ‘and they took’, which foregrounds the action and continues the narrative chain of past events typical of Hebrew prose. The direct object marker et {אֶת־ | ʾeṯ-} introduces Lot {לוֹט | lôṭ} as the first object, followed by a coordinated second object ve’et rekhusho {וְאֶת־רְכֻשׁוֹ | wə-ʾeṯ rə·ḵu·šô} ‘and his possessions’, binding Lot and his property into a single complex object of the verb. The construct chain ben achi Avram {בֶּן־אֲחִי אַבְרָם | ben- ʾă·ḥî ʾaḇ·rām} functions appositionally, specifying Lot’s family relationship as “the son of Abram’s brother,” which is conceptually equivalent to “Abram’s nephew.” The narrative then resumes with another wayyiqtol, vayelekhu {וַיֵּלֵכוּ | way·yê·lē·ḵû} ‘and they went’, marking the subsequent movement of the captors. The clause vehu yoshev bisdom {וְהוּא יֹשֵׁב בִּסְדֹם | wə·hûʾ yô·šēḇ bis·ḏōm} is a circumstantial construction: the independent pronoun vehu ‘and he’ plus the participle yoshev ‘dwelling’ describes Lot’s ongoing situation “while / since he was dwelling in Sodom.” This participial clause explains the circumstances leading to his capture rather than introducing a new event. In translation, the sequential wayyiqtol verbs are rendered with simple past forms (“took,” “went away”), while the circumstantial nuance of the participle is reflected with causal connectors (“for,” “since”) to make explicit the explanatory relationship implied by the Hebrew syntax. |