| 26. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the conjunction ki {כִּי | kî} ‘for’ signaling an explanatory clause. The construct chain cheshbon ʿir sichon melek ha-emori {חֶשְׁבּוֹן עִיר סִיחֹן מֶלֶךְ הָאֱמֹרִי | ḥešbôn ʿîr sî-kḥôn mêlek hā-ʾe-mô-rî} ‘Heshbon, city of Sihon the Amorite king’ presents Heshbon as belonging to Sihon. The pronouns hîʼ {הִוא | hîʼ} ‘it’ and vehu {וְהוּא | wə-hûʼ} ‘and he’ mark the shift from the feminine noun city to the masculine Sihon. Nilcham {נִלְחַם | nil-ḥam} is a Niphal perfect denoting completed action “he fought.” The phrase be-melek moav harishon {בְּמֶלֶךְ מוֹאָב הָרִאשׁוֹן | bə-mê-lek mô-ʾāv hā-rî-ʾôn} identifies the adversary. The vav-consecutive vayikkach {וַיִּקַּח | va-yik-kaḥ} ‘and he took’ introduces the direct object et-kol-artzo miyado {אֶת־כָּל־אַרְצ֛וֹ מִיָּדוֹ | ʾet-kol-ʾar-ṣô mi-yā-dô} “all his land from his hand.” Finally, ʿad arnon {עַד־אַרְנֹן | ʿad ar-nôn} ‘up to Arnon’ specifies the extent of conquest. The English rendering preserves the Hebrew clause order while smoothing for readability. |