| 7. Linguistic Exegesis vayavo {וַיָּבֹא | wayyāḇōʾ} ‘and he came’ marks narrative progression with haʿam {הָעָם | hā-ʿām} as subject and ʾel-Mōšē {אֶל־מֹשֶׁה | ʾel-Mōšē} indicating the recipient of the plea. Vayomru {וַיֹּאמְרוּ | wayyōʾmərû} ‘and they said’ introduces direct speech, beginning with ḥāṭānû {חָטָאנוּ | ḥāṭānû} ‘we have sinned’, a perfect first person plural confession. The conjunction kî {כִּי | kî} ‘because’ connects to dibbārnû {דִּבַּרְנוּ | dibbārnû} ‘we have spoken’, intensified by the Piel, followed by the parallel objects bə-Yahweh {בַיהוָה | bə-Yahweh} ‘against the LORD’ and wāvāḵ {וָבָךְ | wāvāḵ} ‘and against you’. The imperative hitpallēl {הִתְפַּלֵּל | hitpallēl} ‘Pray’ uses the Hitpael stem for reflexive/reciprocal action, with ʾel-Yahweh {אֶל־יְהוָה | ʾel-Yahweh} specifying the addressee. Wə-yāśēr {וְיָסֵר | wayyāśēr} ‘and may He remove’ is Hiphil imperfect, requesting divine action upon ʾet-hannāḥāš {אֶת־הַנָּחָשׁ | ʾet-hannāḥāš} ‘the serpent’. Finally, va-yitpallēl {וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל | wayyitpallēl} ‘and he prayed’ resumes narrative with Moses’ intercession bəʿaḏ hāʿam {בְּעַד הָעָם | bəʿaḏ hāʿām} ‘on behalf of the people’. The Hebrew sequence and parallelism create a tightly structured confession and plea. |