| 6. Linguistic Exegesis The verse employs the vav-consecutive in va-yaššāḇ {וַיָּשָׁב | wayyaššāḇ} ‘and he returned’ to advance the narrative, followed by the directional preposition ʾēlāyw {אֵלָיו | ʾēlāyw} ‘to him.’ The conjunction wə-hinnēh {וְהִנֵּה | wəhinnēh} ‘and behold’ introduces an immediate visual scene. The Nifal participle nīṣṣāḇ {נִצָּב | nīṣṣāḇ} ‘standing’ designates the subject’s posture, while ʿal-ʿōlātō {עַל־עֹלָת֑וֹ | ʿal-ʿōlātō} literally ‘upon his burnt offering’ (here rendered “beside”) denotes spatial relation and construct possession. The pronoun hūʾ {הוּא | hūʾ} ‘he’ is emphasized in apposition with wəḵāl-śārēy mōʾāḇ {וְכָל־שָׂרֵי מוֹאָב | wəḵāl-śārēy mōʾāḇ} ‘and all the officials of Moab,’ framing a group presence beside the altar. The Hebrew VSO order is rendered in SVO English to preserve clarity while maintaining the verse’s emphatic visual disclosure and communal authority. |