| 7. Linguistic Exegesis The verse unfolds through a series of vav-consecutive clauses, starting with vayered {וַיֵּ֖רֶד | va-yê-reḏ} ‘and he went down’ which sets the scene, followed by vayedabber {וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר | va-ye-dab-bêr} ‘and he spoke’ introducing his address to laishah {לָאִשָּׁ֑ה | lā-’î-šāh}, and concluding with vattishar {וַתִּישַׁ֖ר | va-ti-šar} ‘and she was upright,’ indicating her resulting condition. The idiom be‘inei {בְּעֵינֵ֥י | bə-‘ê-nê} ‘in the eyes of’ marks Samson’s subjective approval. The coordinated narrative flow of “and” clauses preserves the succession of events, while the idiom is rendered literally in the formal translation to reflect the Hebrew expression and dynamically to convey active evaluation. |