| 18. Linguistic Exegesis The clause begins with mekhashefah {מְכַשֵּׁפָה | mĕ-ḵaš-šē-pā} ‘sorceress’, a participle functioning as the direct object placed before the verb to highlight the person barred from life. The negative particle lo {לֹא | lō} ‘not’ introduces a prohibition. The verb tehayyeh {תְחַיֵּה | tə-ḥay-yēh} ‘you shall not let live’ uses jussive force to express a causative prohibition. Fronting the object intensifies emphasis on the individual subject to the law. The formal translation mirrors this object–verb inversion, whereas the dynamic translation employs an English SVO construction with “allow … survive” to capture the Hiphil causative nuance. This structure exemplifies the emphasis pattern in Exodus legal clauses. |