| 42. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the vav-consecutive verb vayomer {וַיֹּ֣אמֶר | va-yō-mer} ‘and he said’, introducing direct speech. The addressee is marked by elav {אֵלָ֗יו | ʾē-lāw} ‘to him’. The prophetic formula koh amar Yahweh {כֹּ֚ה אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֔ה | kō ʾā-mar Yə-hō-wāh} ‘Thus says the LORD’ asserts divine authority. The conjunction yaan {יַעַן | ya-ʿan} ‘because’ introduces the cause clause headed by the Piel perfect shilakhta {שִׁלַּ֥חְתָּ | šil-lak-tā} ‘you released’, with the direct object et-ish-khermi {אֶת־אִישׁ־חֶרְמִ֖י | ʾet-ʼîš-ḥer-mî} ‘the man devoted to destruction’. The phrase miyyad {מִיָּ֑ד | mi-yāḏ} ‘from the hand’ indicates origin. The vav-consecutive vehayetah {וְהָיְתָ֤ה | wə-hā-yə-tāh} ‘and it shall be’ frames the result clause with the substitution formula naphshekha takhat naphsho {נַפְשְׁךָ֙ תַּ֣חַת נַפְשׁ֔וֹ | nap-šek-kha ṭa-ḥat nap-šō} ‘your life instead of his life’, repeated for veammekha takhat ammo {וְעַמְּךָ֖ תַּ֥חַת עַמּֽוֹ | wə-ʿam-mə-kha ṭa-ḥat ʿam-mō} ‘and your people instead of his people’, establishing a parallelism that underscores proportional retribution in a legal context. |