| 4. Linguistic Exegesis Exodus 21:4 is structured as a protasis–apodosis conditional clause, introduced by the conditional particle im {אִם | ʾim} ‘if’. In the protasis, the term im-adonav {אִם־אֲדֹנָיו | ʾim-ʼă-ḏō-nāw} ‘if his master’ introduces the actor of the Qal imperfect yitten-lo {יִתֶּן־לוֹ | yit-ten-lō} ‘gives to him’, which governs the object isha {אִשָּׁה | ʾish-shāh} ‘wife’. The vav-consecutive perfect ve-yaldah-lo {וְיָלְדָה־לוֹ | wə-ya-lə-ḏāh-lō} ‘and she bears to him’ specifies banim/banot {בָּנִים/בָּנוֹת | bā-nîm/bā-nôt} ‘sons or daughters’. The apodosis reestablishes the topic with the construct phrase ha-isha viyaldeha {הָאִשָּׁה וִילְדֶיהָ | hā-ʾish-shāh wiy-yal-de-hā} ‘the wife and her children’, followed by the imperfect tihyeh la-adoneha {תִּהְיֶה לַאדֹנֶיהָ | tih-yě-hē la-ʼă-ḏō-ně-hā} indicating legal belonging. The final clause, ve-hu yetse be-gapo {וְהוּא יֵצֵא בְגַפּוֹ | wə-hū yē-ṣēʾ bə-ga-pō} ‘and he shall go out by himself’, contrasts the servant’s departure with his family’s continued servitude using an independent pronoun and an idiomatic prepositional phrase. |