| 19. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the noun phrase kol-ha-bekhor {כָּל־הַבְּכוֹר | kōl-hă-bĕ-khōr} ‘all the firstborn’, where the maqqef links kol ‘all’ to bekhor ‘firstborn’ to express totality. The relative clause introduced by asher {אֲשֶׁר | ʾă-šer} ‘that’ is headed by the Niphal imperfect yi-valed {יִוָּלֵד | yî-wă-lēḏ} ‘is born’, defining the animals in view. The prepositional phrases biv-karekha {בִּבְקָרְךָ | bĭ-bə-qā-rə̆-ḵā} and u-ve-tsonkha {וּבְצֹאנְךָ | ū-vĕ-ṣō-ʾā-nə̆-ḵā} specify the domains of herd and flock. The masculine designation ha-zakhar {הַזָּכָר | ha-zā-khar} ‘the male’ signals gender specification before the Hiphil imperfect command takdish {תַּקְדִּישׁ | taq-dî-š} ‘you shall set apart’. The beneficiary phrase la-Yahweh elohekha {לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ | lă-yə-hō-wāh ʾĕ-lō-hê-kā} ‘to the LORD your God’ employs a compound divine name in construct to emphasize divine ownership. Finally, the paired negatives lo ta’avod {לֹא תַעֲבֹד | lō̄ tĕ-ʿă-ḇōḏ} and ve-lo tagoz {וְלֹא תָגֹז | wĕ-lō̄ tā-ḡôz} form parallel prohibitions governing labor and shearing. |