| 22. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with a pair of imperatives, maher {מַהֵר | mahēr} ‘hasten’ and himmalet {הִמָּלֵ֣ט | himmālēṭ} ‘escape’, forming an intensified command conveying urgent encouragement to the addressees. The adverb shammah {שָׁמָּה | šāmmāh} frames the destination both initially and within the temporal clause. The conjunction ki {כִּי | kî} introduces the causal clause where lo ukhal {לֹא אוּכַל | lō ʾûkhal} ‘I am not able’ (Qal imperfect first person negated) links to the infinitive la'asot {לַעֲשׂוֹת | laʿăśôt} ‘to do’ plus davar {דָּבָר | dāḇār} ‘thing’, yielding “to do a thing.” The phrase 'ad bo'akha shammah {עַד־בֹּאֲךָ שָׁמָּה | ʿad bōʾăḵā šāmmāh} ‘until your coming there’ establishes a limit for action. The inferential particle 'al-ken {עַל־כֵּן | ʿal-kēn} ‘therefore’ leads the etiological clause where kara {קָרָא | qārāʾ} governs shem-ha'ir {שֵׁם־הָעִיר | šēm-hāʿîr} ‘the name of the city’ with Tso'ar {צֹעַר | ṣōʿar} as the resulting toponym. |