| 4. Linguistic Exegesis The clause begins with the vav consecutive verb vayavo {וַיָּבֹא | wayyāḇōʾ} ‘and he went in’, which continues the narrative sequence from the previous verse and implies Abram as the subject. The preposition el {אֶל | ʾel} with its object hagar {הָגָר | hā-gār} specifies the woman approached, where ‘went in’ functions as a euphemism for sexual relations. The next vav consecutive verb vatahar {וַתַּהַר | wat-ta-har} ‘and she conceived’ marks the result of the union. The subject then shifts to Hagar with vatera {וַתֵּרֶא | wat-tê-reʾ} ‘and she saw’, followed by the conjunction ki {כִּי | kî} and the perfect verb haratah {הָרָתָה | hā-rā-tāh} ‘she was pregnant’ to specify what she perceived. This framing of awareness shows a cause-and-effect relationship between conception and realization. The final vav consecutive verb vateikal {וַתֵּקַל | wat-tê-qal} ‘and she became despised’ is followed by the construct gevirtah {גְּבִרְתָּהּ | gə-vir-tāh} ‘her mistress’ and the prepositional phrase beeineha {בְּעֵינֶיהָ | bə-ʿê-nê-hā} ‘in her eyes’, an idiomatic expression indicating inner contempt. English rendering splits the Hebrew clause into two sentences and clarifies the idiom by translating ‘became despised’ or ‘look down on’, preserving the sequence of vav consecutive verbs and the resulting relational shift. |