| 23. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the additive particle gam {גַּם | gam} ‘also’ linking this observation to the preceding narrative. The temporal phrase bayyamim hahem {בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם | ba-yă-yă-MIM hā-hēm} ‘in those days’ establishes the timeframe. The verb raʾiti {רָאִ֤יתִי | rā-ʾî-tî} ‘I saw’ marks Nehemiah’s first person testimony, with the direct object marker et {אֶת־ | ʾet} introducing hayehudim {הַיְּהוּדִים | ha-ye-hû-dîm} ‘the Jews’. The Hiphil perfect hoshivu {הֹשִׁ֗יבוּ | hô-šî-vû} ‘they caused to dwell’ conveys the causative action of taking foreign spouses. The noun nashim {נָשִׁ֔ים | nā-šîm} ‘women’ is then qualified by three gentilic adjectives—ashdodiyot {אַשְׁדֳּדִיּוֹת | ʾaš-dŏ-ddî-yōt}, ammoniyot {עַמֳּנִיּוֹת | ʿam-mô-nî-yōt}, and moaviyot {מוֹאָבִיּוֹת | mō-ʾā-bî-yōt}—specifying the women’s foreign origins. In English, these are rendered as ‘married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab’ to preserve the sequence of gentilic groups while conforming to natural English word order. |