| 5. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the wayyiqtol sequence vayikre'u {וַיִּקְרְא֤וּ | wayyiqreʾû} (‘and they called out’) followed by vayomeru {וַיֹּאמְרוּ | wayyōʾmrû} (‘and they said’), a narrative progression through prefixed imperfect verbs. The indirect object lo {ל֔וֹ | lô} marks Lot as the addressee before the quoted demand. The interrogative ayeh {אַיֵּה | ʾayyēh} ‘where’ precedes its noun phrase subject ha-anashim {הָאֲנָשִׁים | hāʾănāšîm} ‘the men’, which is further defined by the relative clause asher-bau {אֲשֶׁר־בָּאוּ | ʾăšer-bāʾû} ‘who came’. The prepositional phrase eilekha {אֵלֶיךָ | ʾēleykā} and temporal hallaylah {הַלָּיְלָה | hallāylāh} stress Lot’s hospitality obligations at night. The Hiphil imperative hotsi'em {הוֹצִיאֵם | hōṣîʾēm} (‘bring them out’) conveys coercive force, and the cohortative venede'ah {וְנֵדְעָה | wə-nēḏʿāh} (‘let us know’) expresses the mob’s intention to achieve sexual domination. The direct object otam {אֹתָם | ʾôtām} places focus on the men as victims. This structure preserves the original word order to reflect the urgency and moral degradation of the mob’s demand. |