| 14. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the temporal marker le’et {לְעֵת | lə-ʾêṯ} ‘at time of’ paired with erev {עֶרֶב | ʿe-reḇ} ‘evening’ to establish setting. The coordination ve-hinneh {וְהִנֵּה | wə-hin-nêh} ‘and behold’ acts as a narrative pivot introducing balahah {בְּלָהָה | bə-lā-hāh} ‘terror’, signaling abrupt calamity. The preposition be-terem {בְּטֶרֶם | bə-ṭer-em} ‘before’ with boqer {בֹּקֶר | bō-ḳer} ‘morning’ marks a swift transition, reinforced by einennu {אֵינֶנּוּ | ʾê-ne-nû} ‘he is not’, indicating complete cessation. The demonstrative zeh {זֶה | zeh} ‘this’ then headlines a paired construct chelek {חֵלֶק | ḥê-leq} ‘portion’ and goral {גוֹרָל | gō-ral} ‘lot’, a form of synonymous parallelism, each modified by participles shosenu {שׁוֹסֵינוּ | šō-sê-nû} ‘those who plunder us’ and levozezenu {לְבֹזְזֵינוּ | lə-bō-zze-nû} ‘those who rob us’. This pairing underscores the total ruin decreed for the aggressors, preserved through parallel English phrasing and the abrupt narrative shift. |