| 8. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the sequential narrative marker vayya‘alu {וַיַּעֲלוּ | wayya‘ălû} ‘and they brought up’, linking this action to the preceding scene. The construct phrase sārnē Pəlishṭîm {סַרְנֵי פְלִשְׁתִּים | sārnē Pəlishṭîm} ‘rulers of the Philistines’ serves as the subject, followed by the numeral-noun sequence šiv‘āh yeṯārîm laḥîm {שִׁבְעָה יְתָרִים לַחִים | šiv‘āh yeṯārîm laḥîm} ‘seven fresh cords’, where the adjective laḥîm precedes the noun to emphasize their undried state. The relative clause led by ’ăšer {אֲשֶׁר | ’ăšer} ‘that’ and the negation lō-ḥōrāvû {לֹא־חֹרָבוּ | lō-ḥōrāvû} ‘had not been dried’ provides essential qualification. The narrative resumes with wattā’asrēhû {וַתַּאַסְרֵהוּ | wattā’asrēhû} ‘and she bound him’, marking Delilah as the actor, and concludes with the prepositional pronoun bāhem {בָּהֶם | bāhem} ‘with them’. The use of two vav consecutives frames a tight sequence of provisioning and binding, while the fronted descriptors heighten the sense of entrapment. |