| 21. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative uses vav consecutive forms such as vayyetze’u {וַיֵּצְאוּ | wayyəṣû} ‘and they went out’ and vayyashchitu {וַיַּשְׁחִ֨יתוּ | wayyašḥîṯû} ‘and they struck down’ to sequence events. The construct chain bnei-binyamin {בְנֵי־בִנְיָמִ֖ן | benei binyāmin} ‘sons of Benjamin’ clearly identifies the actors, while the prepositional phrase min-ha-giv’ah {מִן־הַגִּבְעָ֑ה | min-ha-gibbā‘āh} ‘from the Gibeah’ establishes their origin. The numeral phrase shnayim ve-esrim elef {שְׁנַיִם וְעֶשְׂרִ֥ים אֶלֶף | shənayyim we‘esrīm ’eleph} ‘twenty-two thousand’ follows Hebrew unit + ten + thousand order. The directional noun artzah {אָרְצָה | ’orṣāh} ‘to the ground’ with the he-suffix expresses the result of the action. English reorders elements to subject–verb–object–result to maintain clarity while preserving Hebrew emphasis. |