| 18. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the vav-consecutive imperfect vayyiṣma {וַיִּצְמָא֮ | wayyiṣma} ‘and he became thirsty’, paired with the degree adverb meʾōd {מְאֹד֒ | meʾōd} to heighten intensity. This is followed by the vav-consecutive vayyiqrāʾ {וַיִּקְרָ֤א | wayyiqrāʾ} ‘and he called’, with the prepositional phrase ʾel-yəhōwāh {אֶל־יְהוָה֙ | ʾel-yə-hō-wāh} marking a direct appeal to the divine name. The clause vayyōʾmar {וַיֹּאמַ֔ר | wayyōʾmar} ‘and he said’ introduces his lament, where the construct chain bə-yad-ʿavdəkā {בְיַֽד־עַבְדְּךָ֔ | bə-yad-ʿav-də-kā} and the direct object ʾet-hattešûʾāh {אֶת־הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה | ʾet-hat-te-šû-ʾāh} emphasize divine agency in granting salvation. The paired qualifiers haggədôlāh {הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה | ha-gə-dô-lāh} ‘the great’ and hazzôt {הַזֹּ֑את | ha-z-zôt} ‘this’ create distributive focus on the magnitude of the deliverance. Finally, the juxtaposition of first-person expressions—‘I shall die of thirst’ (ʾā-mûṭ ba-ṣ-ṣā-māʾ {אָמוּת בַּצָּמָא | ʾā-mûṭ ba-ṣ-ṣā-māʾ}) and ‘I fell into the hand of the uncircumcised’ (wə-nā-phal-tī bə-yad ha-ʿa-rē-lîm {וְנָפַלְתִּ֖י בְּיַ֥ד הָעֲרֵלִֽים | wə-nā-phal-tī bə-yad ha-ʿa-rē-lîm})—forms a chiastic intensity preserved as a single rhetorical question in English. |