| 39. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative opens with the vav-consecutive verb vayedabber {וַיְדַבֵּר | va-yə-dab-bēr} ‘and he spoke,’ which shifts the discourse into a past sequence. The proper noun Moshe {מֹשֶׁה | mō-she} functions as the subject. The accusative marker et-hadevarim {אֶת־הַדְּבָרִים | ʾet-had-de-va-rîm} introduces the definite object haeleh ‘these words,’ referring back to the prior divine message. The prepositional phrase el-kol-benei Yisrael {אֶל־כָּל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל | ʾel-kol-bə-nê yi-sra-ʾêl} ‘to all the sons of Israel’ identifies the audience. The sequence concludes with the vav-consecutive Hitpael imperfect vayitabbelu {וַיִּתְאַבְּלוּ | va-yit-ab-bə-lū} ‘and they mourned,’ with haam {הָעָם | hā-ʿām} ‘the people’ as subject and the adverb meod {מְאֹד | mə-ʾōd} ‘greatly’ indicating intensity. The Hitpael stem conveys a reflexive, communal action, and the Hebrew VSO order is rendered as SVO in English for clarity. |