Judges 15:16 — ExegesisTAB

The verse opens with the vav consecutive wayyomer {וַיֹּ֣אמֶר | wayyōmer} ‘and he said’ followed by the speaker shimshon {שִׁמְשׁ֔וֹן | šimšōn} ‘Samson.’ The prepositional phrase bilchi {בִּלְחִ֣י | bilḥî} introduces two parallel clauses. The sequence hachamor hamor hamoratayim {הַחֲמ֔וֹר חֲמ֖וֹר חֲמֹרָתָ֑יִם | haḥămor ḥămôr ḥāmōrāṯāyim} ‘the donkey donkey heaps upon heaps’ exploits repetition and the dual form to create poetic wordplay and intensify imagery. The Hifil perfect verb hikketi {הִכֵּ֖יתִי | hikkêṯî} ‘I struck down’ emphasizes a completed causative action. Finally, the construct phrase elep ish {אֶלֶף אִֽישׁ | ’ēlêp ’îš} ‘a thousand men’ serves as the direct object quantifier. The English rendition preserves the Hebrew’s parallelism and emphatic structure.