| 11. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the coordinated subjects ve-Avraham ve-Sarah {וְאַבְרָהָם וְשָׂרָה | wə-ʾaḇrāhām wə-śārāh} ‘and Abraham and Sarah,’ followed by the predicate adjective zekenim {זְקֵנִ֔ים | zə-qē-nîm} ‘old,’ indicating their advanced age. The participle baim {בָּאִים | bā-ʾîm} with the prepositional phrase bayamim {בַּיָּמִים | bay-yā-mîm} ‘in the days’ functions as an idiom for being far advanced in life. In the second clause, khadal lihyot le-Sarah {חָדַל לִהְי֣וֹת לְשָׂרָ֔ה | ḥā-ḏal lih-yôṯ lə-śā-rāh} uses the perfect verb khadal ‘it had ceased’ with the infinitive lihyot ‘to be’ to express a completed state of cessation for Sarah. The noun phrase orach ka-nashim {אֹרַח כַּנָּשִׁים | ʾō-raḥ ka-nā-šîm} ‘way of women’ is a euphemism for menstruation, underscoring the end of her reproductive capacity. Syntactically, the verse stacks descriptions of age and biological cessation to highlight human inability without divine intervention, preparing for the promised birth. The Hebrew idiom and euphemism are maintained in both translations with adjustments for natural English expression. |