| 27. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative employs a rapid succession of vav-consecutive verbs—laqkhu {לָקְחוּ | lāqəḥū} ‘took,’ wayyābōʾû {וַיָּבֹאוּ | wayyābōʾû} ‘they came,’ wayyakkû {וַיַּכּוּ | wayyakkû} ‘they struck,’ sārfū {שָׂרְפוּ | sārfū} ‘they burned’—to convey coordinated action. Direct objects are marked by et {אֵת | ʾēṯ} and are specified with relative clauses introduced by asher {אֲשֶׁר | ʾăšer}. The preposition al {עַל־ | ʿal}, repeated before Lāyiš {לַיִשׁ | lāyiš} and its ʿam {עַם | ʿam}, frames the military assault. The participles šōqēṭ {שֹׁקֵט | šōqēṭ} ‘quiet’ and ū-bōṭēaḥ {וּבֹטֵ֔חַ | ū-bōṭēaḥ} ‘trusting’ depict the unsuspecting state of the inhabitants. The idiom lə-p̄î {לְפִי־ | lə-p̄î} ‘by the mouth of’ with ḥāreḇ {חָרֶב | ḥāreḇ} ‘sword’ emphasizes lethal force, and the final clause with bā-ʾēš {בָאֵשׁ | bā-ʾēš} ‘with fire’ completes the image of total destruction. |