| 7. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with a typical narrative chain of wayyiqtol verbs: vayashuvu {וַיָּשֻׁבוּ | wayyāšubû} ‘and they returned’ followed by vayavo'u {וַיָּבֹאוּ | wayyābōʾû} ‘and they came,’ marking sequential movement in the ongoing campaign narrative. The prepositional phrase el-ʿein mišpat {אֶל־עֵין מִשְׁפָּט | ʾel-ʿên mišpāṭ} ‘to the spring of judgment’ identifies the destination, immediately followed by an appositional clause hi qadesh {הִוא קָדֵשׁ | hîʾ qāḏēš} ‘it is Kadesh,’ where the independent pronoun hîʾ functions as a copular marker of identification between the local names. The narrative then advances with another wayyiqtol, vayakku {וַיַּכּוּ | wayyakkû} ‘and they struck,’ which governs two coordinated direct objects marked by et {אֶת | ʾeṯ}. The first object is the construct chain kol sedeh haʿamaleki {כָּל־שְׂדֵה הָעֲמָלֵקִי | kōl-śāḏeh hāʿămālēqî} ‘all the territory of the Amalekite,’ where kol in construct with sedeh intensifies the scope to total devastation of the region. The second object, introduced by vegam {וְגַם | wəgam} ‘and also,’ is ha'emori hayoshev bechatsezon tamar {הָאֱמֹרִי הַיֹּשֵׁב בְּחַצְצֹן תָּמָר | hāʾĕmōrî hayyōšēḇ bəḥaṣṣōn tāmār} ‘the Amorite, the one dwelling in Hazezon-Tamar,’ where the definite Qal participle hayyōšēḇ functions substantivally to denote a settled population at that site. English rendering preserves the sequential feel of the Hebrew narrative chain while reshaping the apposition “it is Kadesh” into a clarifying phrase and maintaining the construct relationships as “spring of judgment” and “territory of the Amalekite.” |