| 6. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the waw-consecutive Pual imperfect vekhuttu {וְכֻתְּת֥וּ | wə-ḵut-tə-w} conveying intensive passive “they were crushed,” followed by the distributive expressions gôy-bĕ-gôy {גוֹי־בְּג֖וֹי | gôy-bĕ-gôy} “nation by nation” and bĕ-ʿîr {בְּעִ֑יר | bĕ-ʿîr} “city by city.” The conjunction kî-ʾĕ-lō-hîm {כִּֽי־אֱלֹהִים | kî-ʾĕ-lō-hîm} introduces the causal clause, leading to the Hiphil perfect hă-mā-mām {הֲמָמָ֖ם | hă-mā-mām} “He troubled them,” which highlights divine agency in affliction. The phrase bĕ-kōl-ṣā-rāh {בְּכָל־צָרָֽה | bĕ-kōl-ṣā-rāh} employs the generic quantifier kol-tsarah to stress the comprehensive scope of the distress. Hebrew parallelism and passive constructions underscore systematic divine judgment, moving from national to urban levels. |