| 12. Linguistic Exegesis The verse unfolds as a tightly linked sequence of vav-consecutive perfective actions. The opening verb vatikkach {וַתִּקַּח | va-tiqqāḥ} ‘and she took’ signals narrative progression, with the agent Delilah {דְּלִילָה | dĕ-lî-lāh} introduced. The noun phrase avotim chadashim {עֲבֹתִים חֲדָשִׁים | ʿă-vō-ṭîm ḥă-dā-šîm} ‘new ropes’ follows Hebrew postpositive adjective order. The next clause begins with vataasrehu {וַתַּאַסְרֵהוּ | va-ṭaʾ-as-rê-hû} ‘and she bound him’ plus the instrumental bahem {בָהֶם | bā-hem} ‘with them’. The speech formula vatomer {וַתֹּאמֶר | va-tô-mer} ‘and she said’ precedes a vocative announcement of pelishtim {פְּלִשְׁתִּים | pĕ-liš-ṭîm} ‘Philistines’. The participial construction wehaorev yoshev {וְהָאֹרֵב יֹשֵׁב | wə-hā-ʾō-rê-ḇ yō-šêv} ‘the ambush lay hidden’ uses yō-šêv to indicate an ongoing state, localized by bechader {בֶּחָדֶר | bə-ḥā-der} ‘in the room’. The narrative concludes with wayenattekem {וַיְנַתְּקֵם | wa-yə-nat-tê-ḵem} ‘and he tore them off’, the prepositional phrase meal zerotav {מֵעַל זְרֹעֹתָיו | mê-ʿāl zə-rō-ʿō-ṯāw} ‘from his arms’, and the simile kahut {כַּחֽוּט | ka-ḥūṭ} ‘like a thread’. This structure tightly connects Delilah’s deception to Samson’s swift liberation. |