| 6. Linguistic Exegesis The phrase begins with vechol-behemah {וְכָל־בְּהֵמָ֞ה | wə-ḥal bə-hē·māh} ‘and every animal’, which functions as the subject. This is followed by two coordinated participles, mafreset {מַפְרֶסֶת | māf-rê-seṯ} ‘splitting’ and veshosaat {וְשֹׁסַעַת | wə-šō·śa·ʿat} ‘and splitting’, each describing parsah {פַּרְסָה | par-sāh} ‘hoof’ and its division into shesa {שֶׁסַע | še·saʿ} ‘a split’ of shtei perasot {שְׁתֵּי פְרָסוֹת | šə-tê pə-rā-sōt} ‘two hooves’ to reinforce complete separation. The third participle, maalat {מַעֲלַת | ma·ʿa·lāt} ‘bringing up’, links through babbehemah {בַּבְּהֵמָה | ba·bə-hē·māh} ‘among the animal’ to specify an internal activity. The direct object pronoun otah {אֹתָהּ | ʾō-ṯāh} marks the noun phrase as the object of the finite verb tochelu {תֹּאכֵלוּ | tō-ḵê-lû} ‘you shall eat’. In English, these participles are rendered as relative clauses to preserve the ordered criteria before the main verb, emphasizing that only animals meeting all conditions qualify for consumption. |