| 13. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the conditional ve’im {וְאִם־ | wə-’im} ‘and if’ followed by the negative lo {לֹא | lō} and the qal imperfect tukhlu {תוּכְלוּ | tūkəlû} ‘are you able’. The hiphil infinitive construct le-haggid {לְהַגִּיד | lə-haggīd} ‘to declare’ takes li {לִי | lī} as its indirect object. The vav consecutive u-netatem {וּנְתַתֶּם | wə-netattem} ‘and you shall give’ introduces a result clause, followed by the distributive numerical phrases šĕlōšîm səḏînîm and ū-šĕlōšîm ḥălîp̄ôt bədāḡîm representing “thirty linen garments and thirty changes of garments”. The narrative then shifts with wayyōmerû {וַיֹּאמְרוּ | wayyōmerû} ‘and they said’, immediately giving the piel imperative ḥûḏâ {ח֥וּדָה | ḥûḏâ} ‘propose’ plus the noun ḥîḏātəkhā {חִידָתְךָ | ḥîḏātəkhā} ‘your riddle’. Finally, the nifal imperfect wənîšma‘ennā {וְנִשְׁמָעֶֽנָּה | wənîšma‘ennā} ‘and we will hear it’, marked by the energic nun, emphasizes the collective readiness of the speakers. |