| 22. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the discourse markers veattah {וְעַתָּה | wə-ʿattâ} ‘and now’ and hinneh {הִנֵּה | hinnêh} ‘behold’, which together signal a pointed conclusion drawn from the preceding vision report. The main clause uses natan {נָתַן | nāṯan} ‘he has put’ to present the action as accomplished and certain: Yahweh {יְהוָה | yəhōwāh} is the explicit subject, and the direct object ruach sheqer {רוּחַ שֶׁקֶר | rûaḥ šeqer} ‘a spirit of falsehood’ forms a genitive relationship (“spirit characterized by deception”), highlighting the qualitative nature of the influence. The prepositional phrase befi nevihekha elleh {בְּפִי נְבִיאֶיךָ אֵלֶּה | bə-p̄î nəvîʾêkā ʾêlleh} ‘in the mouth of these your prophets’ depicts the prophets as the instrument through whom the deceptive message is voiced. A second coordinated clause begins with vayYHWH {וַיהוָה | way-yəhōwāh} ‘and the LORD’, restating the divine subject for emphasis; dibber {דִּבֶּר | dibber} ‘He has spoken’ with ʿalekha {עָלֶיךָ | ʿālêkā} ‘against you’ frames the result as a judicial pronouncement directed at the king. The final predicate raah {רָעָה | ra‘â} ‘disaster’ communicates not moral evil but impending calamity as the sentence, so the English rendering keeps the legal force (“spoken/declared”) while clarifying the outcome as judgment. |