| 4. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative is driven by a sequence of five vav-consecutive verbs: vayelekh {וַיֵּ֣לֶךְ | wayye-lēḵ} ‘and he went’, vayilkōḏ {וַיִּלְכֹּ֖ד | wayyilkōḏ} ‘and he caught’, wayyikkaḥ {וַיִּקַּ֣ח | wayyikkaḥ} ‘and he took’, wayye-pen {וַיֶּ֤פֶן | wayye-pen} ‘and he turned’, and wayyāsem {וַיָּ֨שֶׂם | wayyāsem} ‘and he placed’. The numeral construct šəlōš-me’ōṯ {שְׁלֹשׁ־מֵא֣וֹת | šəlōš-me’ōṯ} ‘three hundred’ with šū‘ālîm {שׁוּעָלִ֑ים | šū‘ālîm} ‘foxes’ conveys a measure expression. The pairing is signaled by zānāv {זָנָב֙ | zānāv} ‘tail’ and ʾel-zānāv {אֶל־זָנָ֔ב | ʾel-zānāv} ‘to tail’, while battāvēḵ {בַּתָּֽוֶךְ | battāvēḵ} ‘in the middle’ marks the precise placement of lappîḏ {לַפִּ֥יד | lappîḏ} ‘torch’. The English rendering preserves the rapid action and spatial detail through coordinated clauses and prepositional phrases. |