| 29. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with vayomer {וַיֹּ֤אמֶר | wayyōmer} ‘and he said’, a vav consecutive Qal imperfect that shifts narrative into direct speech. The prepositional phrase el-ba-lak {אֶל־בָּלָ֔ק | ʾel-bā-lāq} marks the recipient of Balaam’s address. Two imperatives, beneh-li {בְּנֵה־לִ֥י | bə-nē-lî} ‘build for me’ and ve-haken {וְהָכֵ֥ן | wə-hā-kên} ‘and prepare’, structure the priestly instructions. Each verb is followed by li {לִי֙ | lī} ‘for me’ to indicate the beneficiary and bazeh {בָזֶ֖ה | vā-zeh} ‘here’ to fix the location. The triadic repetition of shivah {שִׁבְעָ֣ה | ši-vāʿ} ‘seven’ with mizbechot ‘altars’, parim ‘bulls’, and eilim ‘rams’ underscores ritual completeness and parallelism. The Hebrew coordination via vav heightens the sense of cumulative command, which the English imperatives preserve through mirrored syntax. |