| 27. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the waw-consecutive verb vayomer {וַיֹּאמֶר | wayyōmer} ‘and he said’, marking a new utterance. The conditional protasis uses the infinitive construct shov {שׁוֹב | šōw} ‘to return’ followed by the imperfect tashuv {תָּשׁוּב | ṯāšûw} ‘you will return’, emphasizing the condition. The adverbial beshalom {בְּשָׁלוֹם | bə-šālôm} ‘in peace’ qualifies the outcome. In the apodosis, the negation lo {לֹא | lōʾ} ‘not’ precedes the Piel perfect dibber {דִבֶּר | dibber} ‘has spoken’ with the divine subject Yahweh {יְהוָה | Yəhōwāh} and suffix bî {בִּי | bî} ‘by me’, underscoring the absence of divine utterance. A second waw-consecutive introduces the imperative shimʿu {שִׁמְעוּ | šimʿû} ‘hear’, addressing the collective ammim kullam {עַמִּים כֻּלָּם | ʻammîm kullām} ‘all peoples’ with a solemn summons. |