| 8. Linguistic Exegesis The initial vav-consecutive verb vayera {וַיֵּרַע | wayyērāʿ} ‘it was evil’ introduces a narrative pivot into Nehemiah’s emotional response, with the prepositional phrase li {לִי | li} ‘to me’ and the intensifier meod {מְאֹד | məʾôḏ} ‘very’ foregrounding personal distress. The subsequent vav-consecutive Hiphil verb vaashlikhah {וָאַשְׁלִיכָה | wāʾašlîḵāh} ‘and I threw out’ conveys decisive removal, immediately followed by the direct object marker et {אֵת | ʾēt}, highlighting the forceful expulsion of the object phrase kol kelei beit Toviyah ‘all vessels of the house of Tobiah.’ Here kol {כָּל | kol} functions as a distributive determiner, and kelei beit forms a construct chain specifying ownership. Finally, the prepositional phrase hakhuts min halishkah {הַחוּץ מִן־הַלִּשְׁכָּה | haḥûṣ min-hā-liškāh} ‘outside from the chamber’ places syntactic emphasis on the complete removal from the cultic space. This word order frames Nehemiah’s reaction (vayera + li + meod) as cause, leading to his purifying action (vaashlikhah + et + object phrase), resulting in the expulsion (hakhuts + min + location phrase). |