| 5. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the negated adverbial construction ki-lo-khen {כִּי־לֹא־כֵּן | kî-lōʾ-kên} ‘for not so’, establishing an evaluative clause, followed by the construct chain beiti im El {בֵּיתִי | bêṯî ʿim אֵל} ‘my house with God’, highlighting personal relationship. The conjunction ki introduces the contrast in ki berit olam sam li {כִּי | kî בְּרִית} ‘for He has set for me an everlasting covenant’. The participles arukhah ba-kol u-shemurah {עֲרוּכָה | ʿărûḵâ בַּכֹּל} ‘arranged in all and kept secure’ expand on covenant completeness. The distributive phrase kol-yishi ve-kol-chefets {כָּל־יִשְׁעִי | kol-yîš‘î וְכָל־חֵפֶץ} ‘all my salvation and every desire’ details the promise’s extent. The final clause is a concessive negative ki-lo yatzmiach {כִּי־לֹא יַצְמִיחַ | kî-lōʾ yaṣmîaḥ} ‘though He does not cause it to sprout’, forming a climactic qualification. English rendering uses ‘though He does not cause it to sprout’ (formal) and ‘even if it has not yet sprouted’ (dynamic) to convey the unresolved condition inherent in the Hebrew Hiphil imperfect with negation. |