| 12. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with way-yiš-le-ḥû {וַֽיִּשְׁלְח֞וּ | way-yiš-le-ḥû} “and they sent,” a vav-consecutive Qal imperfect advancing the narrative. The construct phrase šiv-têi Yiś-rā-ʾêl {שִׁבְטֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ | šiv-têi yiś-rā-ʾêl} “tribes of Israel” serves as the collective subject. The distributive prepositional phrase bə-khol šiv-têi bin-yā-mîn {בְּכָל־שִׁבְטֵ֥י בִנְיָמִ֖ן | bə-khol šiv-têi bin-yā-mîn} conveys attention to each subdivision of Benjamin. Lê-ʾa-môr {לֵאמֹ֑ר | lê-ʾa-môrʹ} “to say” introduces the inquiry, rendered as direct speech. The interrogative mā́h {מָ֚ה | mā́h} “what,” with the demonstrative haz-zôṯ {הַזֹּ֔את | haz-zôṯʹ} “this” and the noun ha-rā-ʿā́h {הָרָעָה֣ | ha-rā-ʿā́h} “evil,” frames the moral question. The relative particle ʾă-šer {אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾă-šerʹ} “that” links to the Niphal perfect nih-yê-tấh {נִהְיְתָ֖ה | nih-yê-tấh} “has happened” within bā-khemʹ {בָּכֶֽם | bā-khemʹ} “among you.” English word order preserves the Hebrew sequence while clarifying the question. |