| 10. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the vav-consecutive verbal form vayomer {וַיֹּ֣אמֶר | way-yō-mer} ‘and he said’ introducing hamelekh {הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ | ha-mē-lekh} ‘the king.’ The idiomatic mah-li ve-lakhem {מַה־לִּי וְלָכֶ֖ם | mah-lī wə-lā-khem} ‘what have I to do with you’ creates a distancing rhetorical question. The causal conjunction ki {כִּי | kî} ‘for,’ intensified by the demonstrative koh {כֹּה | kōh} ‘thus,’ leads into the Piel imperfect yekallel {יְקַלֵּ֗ל | yə-ḵal-lēl} ‘he curses.’ The Piel imperative kallel {קַלֵּ֣ל | qăl-lêl} ‘curse’ functions as a permissive authorization. The sequence vekhi ki {וְכִ֤י כִּי | wə-ḵî kî} ‘and indeed, for’ adds a second causal layer marked by the divine name Yahweh {יְהוָה֙ | Yə-hō-Wāh}. The final rhetorical question introduced by umi yomar {וּמִ֣י יֹאמַ֔ר | û-mi yō-mar} ‘and who will say’ underscores human inability to contest divine will. Hebrew particles are mirrored by “for,” “thus,” “and indeed,” and rhetorical questions preserve the layered emphasis. |