| 23. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with vayomer {וַיֹּאמֶר | way-yō-mer}, a vav-consecutive Qal imperfect introducing Moses’ address. The pronoun hu {הוּא | hû} with the relative clause asher dib-bēr Yahweh {אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה | ʾă-šer dib-bēr Yə-hō-wāh} forms an identificatory construction linking this directive to prior divine speech. The nominal sequence shabbaton shabbat-kodesh laYHWH machar {שַׁבָּתוֹן שַׁבַּת־קֹדֶשׁ לַיהוָה מָחָר | šab-bā-tôn šab-bat-qō-deš lə-Yə-hō-wāh mā-ḥār} functions as a verbless temporal clause rendered “Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the LORD.” Two parallel patterns—direct-object marker + relative clause + imperative—(et asher-tō-ʾp̄û … ê-p̄û) and (ve-ʾēt asher-tə-ḇaš-šə-lû … baš-šê-lû)—express “Bake what you will bake, and boil what you will boil.” The final clause ve-ʾēt kāl-hā-ʿō-dēp̄ han-nî-ḥû lā-ḵem lə-miš-me-ret ʿad-hab-bō-qer {וְאֵת כָּל־הָעֹדֵף הַנִּיחוּ לָכֶם לְמִשְׁמֶרֶת עַד־הַבֹּקֶר | wə-ʾēt kāl-hā-ʿō-dēp̄ han-nî-ḥû lā-ḵem lə-miš-me-ret ʿad-hab-bō-qer} employs the participle ha-odef as object of han-nî-ḥû, with beneficiary (lā-ḵem), purpose (lə-miš-me-ret), and duration (ʿad-hab-bō-qer) specified by prepositional phrases. English adds conjunctions and auxiliary verbs to preserve Hebrew parallelism and clarify relationships. |