| 46. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative opens with the vav-consecutive imperfect vayyomer {וַיֹּאמֶר | wāyyōmer} ‘and he said’ to introduce speech. A sequence of vav-linked Qal imperatives—kach {קַח | qāḥ} ‘take’, u-ten {וּתְן | wə-ten} ‘and put’, ve-sim {וְשִׂם | wə-sîm} ‘and place’, ve-holech {וְהוֹלֵךְ | wə-hōlêk} ‘and go’, and ve-kapper {וְכַפֵּר | wə-kappēr} ‘and atone’—conveys urgent ritual action. The particle et {אֵת | ʾēt} marks hamachtah {הַמַּחְתָּה | hammǎḥtāh} ‘the censer’ as the direct object. The adverb meherah {מְהֵרָה | məhērāh} intensifies speed. The conjunction ki {כִּי | kî} introduces divine causation with yatsa {יָצָא | yāṣāʾ} ‘has gone out’ paired with haketsef {הַקֶּצֶף | hakkēṣep̄} ‘the wrath’, framed by milifnei {מִלִּפְנֵי | milîp̄nê} before yehovah {יְהוָה | Yə-hō-wāh} ‘LORD’. The Hifil perfect hechel {הֵחֵל | hēḥēl} ‘has begun’ with hanefeg {הַנֶּגֶף | han-nəgef̄} ‘the plague’ completes the cause–effect sequence. The translation preserves the asyndetic chain of imperatives and the link between divine wrath and ritual atonement. |