| 12. Linguistic Exegesis The Hebrew clause opens with vezeh {וְזֶ֕ה | wə-zĕh} ‘and this,’ marking a demonstrative introduction. Asher {אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ă-šer} ‘which’ initiates the relative clause, immediately followed by the negation lo {לֹֽא־ | lō} plus the imperfect tokhlu {תֹאכְּל֖וּ | tō-khu-lū} ‘you shall eat’ to form a prohibitive statement. The prepositional phrase mehem {מֵהֶ֑ם | mē-hem} ‘from them’ specifies the scope of the prohibition. The list of prohibited birds—hanesher {הַנֶּ֥שֶׁר | han-nĕ-šer} ‘the eagle,’ vehaperes {וְהַפֶּ֖רֶס | ve-ha-pé-res} ‘and the vulture,’ vehaazniyah {וְהָֽעָזְנִיָּֽה | ve-hā-az-nî-yā(h)} ‘and the black vulture’—uses standard Hebrew coordination. The English rendering preserves the sequence and prohibitive force while streamlining word order and linking the list with a colon. |