| 11. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with hamet {הַמֵּת | ham-mēt} ‘the one who dies,’ a Qal participle introducing a fate-declaring clause. The prepositional phrases le-Yaroba‘am {לְיָרָבְעָם | lə-yā-rā-bə-‘ām} and ba-‘ir {בָּעִיר | ba-‘îr} specify lineage and location. The imperfect yo‘akhelu {יֹאכְלוּ | yō-’a-khe-lû} ‘they will eat’ recurs, forming parallel urban and rural destinies. The agents ha-kelevim {הַכְּלָבִים | ha-klă-vîm} ‘the dogs’ and ‛of ha-shamayim {עוֹף הַשָּׁמָיִם | ‛ōp̄ ha-šā-mā-yim} ‘bird of the heavens’ serve as instruments of desecration, emphasizing shame in unburied death. The conjunction ki {כִּי | kî} with Yahweh {יְהוָה | Yəhō-wāh} in the clause ki Yahweh diber {כִּי יְהוָה דִּבֵּר | kî Yəhō-wāh di-bēr} marks divine decree as the source of this prophetic judgment. |