| 26. Linguistic Exegesis The Hebrew narrative opens with a verb–subject inversion using vayyomer {וַיֹּ֣אמֶר | way-yō-mer} “and he said” to signal direct speech. The denial sequence lo yadati mi asah et-hadavar hazzeh employs the negated perfect verb yadati “I knew” followed by the interrogative mi “who” before the perfect verb asah “did” and the definite object et-hadavar hazzeh “this matter.” Two parallel clauses joined by vegam {וְגַם־ | wə-gam} “and also” express “you did not tell me” and “I did not hear,” with the emphatic anokhi {אָנֹכִ֛י | ʾā-nō-khî} enhancing the speaker’s assertion. The exceptive prepositional phrase bilti hayom {בִּלְתִּ֥י הַיּֽוֹם | bil-tî hay-yōm} restricts the statement to the present moment, rendered formally as “until today” and dynamically as “only heard … today.” |