| 1. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative advances through a sequence of vav-consecutive verbs: vayyelek {וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ | wayyə́leḵ} ‘and he went’, vayyar-sham {וַיַּרְא־שָׁם֙ | wayyār-šām} ‘and he saw there’, vayavo {וַיָּבֹא | wayyāḇōʾ} ‘and he entered’. Shimshon {שִׁמְשׁ֖וֹן | šimšôn} immediately follows the first verb as agent. The locative suffix in azatah {עַזָּתָה | ʿazzātāh} signals movement toward Gaza. The apposition ishah zonah {אִשָּׁה זוֹנָה | ʾiššāh zônāh} specifies “a woman, a prostitute.” The final eleha {אֵלֶיהָ | ʾēlēhā} merges preposition and pronominal suffix to indicate approach. |