וַיְהִ֥י דְבַר־יְהוָ֖ה אֵלַ֥י לֵאמֹֽר׃
And the word of YHWH came to me, saying,
Morphology
- וַיְהִי (va-yehi) – Root: היה (hayah); Form: Qal wayyiqtol (narrative past) 3rd person masculine singular; Translation: “And it came to be”; Notes: Typical prophetic formula introducing divine revelation.
- דְבַר (devar) – Root: דבר (davar); Form: Noun masculine singular construct; Translation: “word of”; Notes: Appears frequently in prophetic literature to denote a direct divine communication.
- יְהוָה (YHWH) – Root: הוה (hawah); Form: Proper noun, Tetragrammaton; Translation: “YHWH”; Notes: The personal covenant name of Israel’s God.
- אֵלַי (ʾelai) – Root: אל (ʾel); Form: Preposition אֶל + first person common singular suffix; Translation: “to me”; Notes: Indicates direction of the divine word to the prophet personally.
- לֵאמֹר (leʾemor) – Root: אמר (ʾamar); Form: Infinitive construct with prefixed preposition לְ; Translation: “saying”; Notes: Standard biblical formula introducing direct speech that follows.