| 11. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative advances through a chain of vav-consecutive imperfect verbs, beginning with vayarem {וַיָּרֶם | wayyā́rem} ‘and he raised’ and vayakh {וַיַּךְ | wayyaḱ} ‘and he struck,’ which establishes Moses as the agent. The direct object marker et-hassela {אֶת־הַסֶּלַע | ʾet-hassélaʿ} marks the rock as the object of striking. The dual noun paamayim {פַּעֲמָיִם | paʿămāyim} ‘twice’ quantifies Moses’ action precisely. The noun-adjective phrase mayim rabbim {מַ֣יִם רַבִּים | mayim rabbîm} ‘waters abundant’ intensifies the result. Subsequent verbs vayetze’u {וַיֵּצְאוּ | wayyēṣʾû} ‘and they went out’ and vateshte {וַתֵּשְׁתְּ | wattēštē} ‘and she drank’ (with the assembly as the understood subject) portray outcome and reception. Finally, uveiram {וּבְעִירָם | ūbĕʿîrām} ‘and their livestock’ extends the action’s benefit to animals. The English renderings preserve the Hebrew sequence, object marking, and cumulative actions to reflect tight narrative progression. |