| 34. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the vav-consecutive imperfect veganoti {וְגַנּוֹתִי | və-gan-nō-tî} ‘and I will defend’, establishing a divine promise. The prepositional phrase el-ha-ir hazot {אֶל־הָעִיר הַזֹּאת | ʾel-hā-ʿîr haz-zōṯ} ‘over this city’ specifies the target. The Hiphil infinitive construct lehoshiah {לְהוֹשִׁיעָהּ | lə-hō-šî-ʿā(h)} ‘to save her’ marks purpose with a feminine suffix referring back to the city. Parallel purpose clauses lemaʿani {לְמַעֲנִי | le-ma-ʿa-nî} and ulemaʿan {וּלְמַעַן | wə-le-ma-ʿan} link divine self-interest to covenantal loyalty via David. English preserves Hebrew word order to maintain cause–effect and covenant emphasis. |