| 3. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the juridical formula vekhen ta’aseh {וְכֵ֧ן תַּעֲשֶׂ֣ה | və-ḵên ta‘ă-śeh} ‘and thus you shall do,’ repeated three times to establish parallel obligations. Each prepositional object uses lamed to mark direction: lachamoro {לַחֲמֹר֗וֹ | la-ḥa-môrô} ‘to his donkey,’ lesimlato {לְשִׂמְלָתוֹ֒ | lə-śim-lātô} ‘to his garment,’ and lechol-avedat {לְכָל־אֲבֵדַ֥ת | lə-ḵol-’ă-vē-dāt} ‘to all lost property.’ The relative clause asher-tovad {אֲשֶׁר־תֹּאבַ֥ד | ’ă-šer-tō-ḇaḏ} ‘that is lost’ qualifies the property, and the perfect Qal of umetza’tah {וּמְצָאתָ֑הּ | ū-me-ṣā-tāh} marks the finding action. The negative command lo tukhal {לֹא תוּכַל | lō tû-ḵal} followed by the Hitpael infinitive lehit’alem {לְהִתְעַלֵּֽם | lə-hit-ta‘ă-lēm} ‘to hide oneself’ conveys the moral duty not to ignore another’s loss. The English rendering preserves the repeated formula for emphasis and clarifies the prohibition as an absolute obligation. |