And you will talk about these words etc.

How is one to approach by example the more than 15,000 instances of the prefix b (beth)? I found a verse with 7 instances and at least two differing uses. (Can't learn everything at once.)

Deuteronomy 6:7 (we've been near here before)

וְשִׁנַּנְתָּ֣ם לְבָנֶ֔יךָ וְדִבַּרְתָּ֖ בָּ֑ם בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ֤ בְּבֵיתֶ֙ךָ֙ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ֣ בַדֶּ֔רֶךְ וּֽבְשָׁכְבְּךָ֖ וּבְקוּמֶֽךָ		7 And you will sharpen them for your children, and speak in them, when you sit in your house, and when you walk in the way, and when you lie down, and when you arise.
z vwinntm lbniç vdibrt bm bwbtç bbitç ublctç bdrç ubwocbç ubqumç	13 23

Note first the pulse of the music and the accents and cadence on the word them. See bar 2 (-tam) and bar 5 (bam). In the second half of the verse, the accent is on the your of each noun. It's curious that I rendered these as verbs rather than nominal forms of the verb. Each action is owned by the hearer, whether sitting, or walking or lying down, or arising. But it is quite natural to translate them as verbs and lose the musical emphasis on the second person singular suffixes. So there are clearly three usages of b here: one containing the idea of time and rendered by when, another containing the idea of place and rendered by in, and a third with the idea of speech and thought and rendered awkwardly by in. Perhaps about would be suitable but surely it loses the immersion. Clearly there is a relationship set up here between the words and the people, in this case individually, though the plurality may be implied in the sense of corporately and severally.

Where the preposition is used without a root, such as is collected here, you can see b rendered by several English prepositions, in, about, by, against, etc. BDB summarizes these. It is very hard to read on its own so I asked Chatgpt to summarize the section. What I fed it was somewhat garbled with LTR and RTL errors, but it made a good stab at it.

The preposition "בְּ" (beth) is primarily used to indicate various relationships of proximity and accompaniment, such as "in," "with," "by," "among," and "through." It is also used to denote various meanings, including location, presence, means, instrument, and price.

The text further divides the uses of "בְּ" into different categories, such as "in a place," "presence in a multitude," "within enclosing limits," "motion into a place," "state or condition," and "proximity."

It also discusses how "בְּ" is used in relation to God, indicating actions done by or with the aid of God, such as prophesying in the name of God or swearing by God.

The preposition "בְּ" is also used to express cost or price, where the price of something is considered the means by which an action is accomplished, as in "buying for a certain price" or "exchanging one thing for another."

Overall, the text presents a detailed analysis of the various nuances and uses of the preposition "בְּ" (beth) in Hebrew, providing valuable insights into its multifaceted functions in the language. However, understanding the specific linguistic and grammatical points would require a deeper understanding of Hebrew language and its syntax.

Does anything here surprise you? I had not particularly associated beth with economic or political cost - but it is definitely there and the translation might be as simple as "I did x for [the cost of] y". To cover the prefixed preposition b will require many worked examples.