כֹּ֚ה אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֔ה מָצָ֥א חֵן֙ בַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר עַ֖ם שְׂרִ֣ידֵי חָ֑רֶב הָלֹ֥וךְ לְהַרְגִּיעֹ֖ו יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃
Thus says YHWH: “Found favor in the wilderness a people, survivors of the sword, going to give him rest, Yisraʾel.”
Morphology
- כֹּה (koh) – Root: כה; Form: Adverb; Translation: “thus”; Notes: Deictic adverb introducing a prophetic utterance formula.
- אָמַר (ʾāmar) – Root: אמר; Form: Qal perfect 3rd person masculine singular; Translation: “said”; Notes: Part of the fixed formula “Thus says YHWH.”
- יְהוָה (YHWH) – Root: יהוה; Form: Proper divine name; Translation: “YHWH”; Notes: Covenant name of Israel’s God.
- מָצָא (māṣāʾ) – Root: מצא; Form: Qal perfect 3rd person masculine singular; Translation: “found”; Notes: Governs the object חֵן; subject is the collective “people.”
- חֵן (ḥēn) – Root: חן; Form: Noun masculine singular; Translation: “favor/grace”; Notes: Often denotes unmerited favor shown by God.
- בַּמִּדְבָּר (ba-midbār) – Root: מדבר; Form: Preposition בְּ + definite noun masculine singular; Translation: “in the wilderness”; Notes: Locative setting recalling exodus imagery.
- עַם (ʿam) – Root: עם; Form: Noun masculine singular; Translation: “a people”; Notes: Apposition to the following construct chain, identifying who found favor.
- שְׂרִידֵי (seridē) – Root: שרד; Form: Noun masculine plural construct; Translation: “survivors of”; Notes: Construct links to חָרֶב, describing the people as those who escaped death.
- חָרֶב (ḥārev) – Root: חרב; Form: Noun feminine singular (absolute); Translation: “sword”; Notes: Metonymy for violent threat/war.
- הָלֹוךְ (hālōkh) – Root: הלך; Form: Qal infinitive absolute; Translation: “going”; Notes: Adverbial/temporal infinitive (“as … went/when … went”); subject understood from context (often taken as YHWH or Yisraʾel); construction is debated.
- לְהַרְגִּיעֹו (le-hargîʿō) – Root: רגע; Form: Hiphil infinitive construct + 3ms suffix; Translation: “to give him rest”; Notes: Causative nuance “cause to rest/bring to calm”; 3ms suffix most naturally refers to Yisraʾel.
- יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yisraʾel) – Root: ישראל; Form: Proper noun; Translation: “Yisraʾel”; Notes: Appositional or resumptive, identifying the people who found favor and to whom rest is given.