| 29. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the narrative preterite vayomer {וַיֹּאמֶר | way-yō-mer} ‘and he said,’ followed by the subject Avimelekh {אֲבִימֶלֶךְ | ʾă-vî-me-lekh} ‘Abimelech.’ The prepositional phrase el-Avraham {אֶל־אַבְרָהָם | ʾel-ʾavrāhām} ‘to Abraham’ indicates the addressee. The interrogative mah henna {מָה הֵנָּה | mā hēnnāh} ‘what is this’ front-loads the clause, combining an interrogative and demonstrative for emphasis. The noun phrase sheva kevashot {שֶׁבַע כְּבָשֹׂת | še-vaʿ kə-ḇā-śōt} ‘seven ewe lambs’ is immediately specified by the demonstrative ha-eleh {הָאֵלֶּה | hā-ʾēl-leh} ‘these,’ creating emphasis on the objects. A restrictive relative clause introduced by asher {אֲשֶׁר | ʾă-šer} ‘that’ links to the Hifil perfect verb hitsavta {הִצַּבְתָּ | hiṣ-ṣav-tā} ‘you have set.’ Finally, levadnah {לְבַדָּנָה | lə-vaḏ-nāh} ‘by themselves’ functions adverbially, marking the deliberate isolation of the lambs and underscoring their symbolic role in the covenant context. |