| 2. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the legal formula vezeh devar {וְזֶה דְּבַר | wə-zeh de-var} ‘and this is the matter’, signaling a new topic. The construct chain devar-hashmittah {דְּבַר הַשְּׁמִטָּה | də-var hašə-miṭṭāh} ‘matter of the release’ names the subject. The Qal infinitive absolute shamot {שָׁמֹט | šā-mōṭ} intensifies the command, and the relative clause introduced by asher {אֲשֶׁר | ašer} ‘which’ contains the Hiphil imperfect yasheh {יַשֶּׁה | yaššêh} ‘he lends’. The universal phrase kol baʿal masheh yado {כָּל־בַּעַל מַשֵּׁה יָדֹו | kol baʿāl maššê yādō} defines the lender class. The prohibition lōʾ-yigosh {לֹא־יִגֹּשׂ | lōʾ-yiggoš} ‘he shall not exact’ uses two direct-object markers ʾet {אֶת | ʾet} to include both reʾehu {רֵעֵהוּ | reʾêhû} ‘his neighbor’ and ʾakhiv {אָחִיו | ʾāḥîv} ‘his brother’. Finally, the causal clause kî qārāʾ shemittah la-Yahweh {כִּי־קָרָא שְׁמִטָּה לַיהוָה | kî qārāʾ še-miṭṭāh la-Yahweh} ‘because a release has been proclaimed for the LORD’ grounds the entire rule in divine decree, a structure preserved in the English by maintaining Hebrew clause order and adding an em-dash for the neighbor-brother clarification. |