| 28. Linguistic Exegesis The Hebrew narrative opens with the wayyiqtol form vayyatsev {וַיַּצֵּב | way-yaṣ-ṣēḇ} ‘and he set up’, immediately followed by the subject Avraham {אַבְרָהָם | ʾaḇ-rā-hām}. The particle et {אֶת־ | ʾeṯ} marks the subsequent noun phrase as a direct object, which is a construct chain sheva kivsot hatson {שֶׁבַע כִּבְשֹׂת הַצֹּאן | še-ḇaʿ kib-śōṯ ha-ṣ-ṣōʾn} ‘seven ewe lambs of the flock’. The adverbial levaddehen {לְבַדְּהֶן | lə-ḇad-də-hēn} ‘by themselves’ closes the clause, conveying deliberate separation. In English the verb–subject order is shifted to subject–verb–object for readability, the construct relationship is rendered “from the flock,” and the adverbial nuance is captured with “stand apart” or “set aside” to reflect intentional exclusion implied by the Hebrew. |