| 32. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the temporal phrase ad bo’i {עַד־בֹּאִי֩ | ʿad bōʾî} ‘until I come’, which is linked by the prefixed conjunction wə-lāqaḥtî {וְלָקַחְתִּ֨י | wə-lā-qā-ḥaṯ-î} ‘and I will take’, establishing the conditional promise. The comparative particle kə- {כְ | kə-} in kə’arṣekhem {כְאַרְצְכֶם֗ | kə-ʾarṣekhem} ‘like your land’ underscores equivalence with the people’s homeland. A triad of parallel descriptions—ereṣ dāgan wə-tīrôš, ʾereṣ leḥem u-kerāmîm, ʾereṣ zêyt yiṣhār u-devash {אֶרֶץ דָּגָן וְתִירוֹשׁ ... | ʾereṣ dāgan wə-tî-rōš ...}—creates an accumulative effect of bounty. The antithetic pairing wiḥyû wə-lō {וִחְיוּ וְלֹא | wiḥ-yû wə-lō} ‘and live and not’ presents life versus death. The prohibitive wə-ʾal {וְאַל־ | wə-ʾal} ‘and do not’ sets up the warning against Ḥizqîyāhû {חִזְקִיָּהוּ | ḥiz-qî-yā-hû}. The envoy’s rhetoric concludes with the divine citation Yahweh and the promise yaṣṣîlēnû {יַצִּילֵנוּ | yaṣ-ṣî-lē-nû} ‘he will rescue us’, serving as the misleading assurance. The English translation retains this progression by segmenting the conditional promise, the descriptive triple, and the concluding admonition with reported speech. |