| 12. Linguistic Exegesis The dialogue is introduced by wayyō-merû {וַיֹּאמְרוּ | wayyō-merû} ‘and they said’, followed by the construct phrase bənê-yiś-rā-’ēl {בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל | bənê-yiś-rā-’ēl} ‘sons of Israel’ identifying the speakers and ’el-mo-šê {אֶל־מֹשֶׁה | ’el-mo-šê} ‘to Moses’ specifying the addressee. The infinitive lē-’môr {לֵאמֹר | lē-’môr} ‘saying’ marks the onset of direct speech. The particle hên {הֵן | hên} is rendered as “Look” to preserve its emphatic force in the formal version but is omitted in the dynamic rendering for smoother flow. The perfect verbs gā-‘an-nû {גָּוַעְנוּ | gā-‘an-nû} and ’ā-vad-nû {אָבַדְנוּ | ’ā-vad-nû} express completed ruin; they are translated in the formal as “have perished” and “are ruined,” and in the dynamic as “are finished” and “are ruined.” The repetition of the verb for ruin underscores the totality of the threat, while the noun kul-lan-nû {כֻּלָּנוּ | kul-lan-nû} “all of us” intensifies the collective despair. Hebrew parallelism is reflected through punctuation choices: the semicolon in the formal and the exclamation and dash in the dynamic capture the rising emotional intensity. |