| 23. Linguistic Exegesis The construction begins with the conjunction veim {וְאִם־ | və-’im} introducing a protasis. The noun ason {אָסוֹן | ʾā-ṣôn} serves as the subject denoting harm, with the imperfect yihyeh {יִהְיֶה | yih-yēh} expressing the realization of that potential event. The apodosis opens with the vav consecutive in venatatah {וְנָתַתָּה | wə-nā-ṯa-tāh}, followed by the formula nephesh tachat nephesh {נֶפֶשׁ תַּחַת נָפֶשׁ | ne-pheš ta-ḥaṯ nā-pheš}, where tachat indicates legal substitution. This parallelism underlines the principle of equal retribution in the covenant code. |