בְּרָֽגֶל׃

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 בְּרָֽגֶל׃

   be-RA-gel

   for foot
2. phraseyour reading level🔊 רֶ֥גֶל בְּרָֽגֶל׃

   RE-gel be-RA-gel

   foot for foot
3. clause🔊 נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּנֶ֗פֶשׁ עַ֤יִן בְּעַ֙יִן֙ שֵׁ֣ן בְּשֵׁ֔ן יָ֥ד בְּיָ֖ד רֶ֥גֶל בְּרָֽגֶל׃

   NE-fesh be-NE-fesh A-yin be-A-yin SHEN be-SHEN YAD be-YAD RE-gel be-RA-gel

   life for life eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot
4. sentence🔊 וְלֹ֥א תָח֖וֹ עֵינֶ֑ךָ נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּנֶ֗פֶשׁ עַ֤יִן בְּעַ֙יִן֙ שֵׁ֣ן בְּשֵׁ֔ן יָ֥ד בְּיָ֖ד רֶ֥גֶל בְּרָֽגֶל׃

   ve-LO ta-KHOS ei-NE-kha NE-fesh be-NE-fesh A-yin be-A-yin SHEN be-SHEN YAD be-YAD RE-gel be-RA-gel

   and not shall pity your eye life for life eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot

Exegesis

What follows is a lex talionis pattern of parallel noun–prepositional noun phrases: nefesh be-nefesh {נֶ֣פֶשׁ בְּנֶ֗פֶשׁ | ne-fēš bə-ne-fēš} ‘life for life’, ayin be-ayin {עַ֤יִן בְּעַ֙יִן֙ | ʿă-yîn bə-ʿă-yîn} ‘eye for eye’, shen be-shen {שֵׁ֣ן בְּשֵׁ֔ן | šên bə-šên} ‘tooth for tooth’, yad be-yad {יָ֥ד בְּיָ֖ד | yād bə-yād} ‘hand for hand’, regel be-ragel {רֶ֥גֶל בְּרָֽגֶל | re-gēl bə-rā-gēl} ‘foot for foot’. The preposition בְּ (bə) marks equivalence, enforcing precise reciprocity. The repeated structure creates poetic parallelism, and the single English clause uses a semicolon to reflect the Hebrew disjunction.