| 16. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative employs the vav-consecutive structure beginning with vayikkar {וַיִּקָּ֤ר | way·yiq·qar} ‘he met’, marking sequence of divine actions. The subject Yahweh {יְהוָה | Yə·hō·wāh} ‘LORD’ appears with the prepositional phrase el-Bilam {אֶל־בִּלְעָ֔ם | ʾel·bil·ʿam} ‘to Balaam’, indicating the recipient. The clause vayasem davar be-piv {וַיָּ֥שֶׂם דָּבָר בְּפִ֑יו | way·yā·sem də·var bə·pî·w} ‘he put a word in his mouth’ is an idiomatic prophetic commissioning. The imperative shuv {שׁוּב | šûv} ‘return’ governs Balaam’s movement, followed by el-Balak {אֶל־בָּלָ֖ק | ʾel·bā·lāq} ‘to Balak’, and the formulaic adverbial vekoh tedabber {וְכֹה תְדַבֵּֽר | wə·khōh tə·ḏab·bēr} ‘and thus you shall speak’ establishes the exact prophecy. English translation preserves Hebrew sequence for clarity while smoothing word order. |