| 27. Linguistic Exegesis The conjunction ki {כִּי | kî} ‘because’ introduces a causal clause. The pronoun hi {הִוא | hîʾ} ‘it’ refers first to kesuto {כְּסוּתוֹ | kə-sû-tô} ‘garment’ and then to simlato {שִׂמְלָתוֹ | sîm-lâ-tô} ‘cloak’, with levadah {לְבַדָּהּ | lə-va-dāh} ‘alone to it’ underscoring exclusivity. The prepositional leoro {לְעֹרוֹ | lə-ʿô-rō} ‘for his skin’ emphasizes protective purpose. The interrogative bameh {בַּמֶּה | ba-mêh} ‘with what’ forms a rhetorical question. In the temporal clause, yishkav {יִשְׁכָּב | yiš-kāv} ‘he will lie down’ is paired with vehayah {וְהָיָה | wə-hā-yāh} ‘and it will be’, followed by ki yitsaaq {כִּי יִצְעַק | kî yiṣ-ʿāq} ‘when he cries out’, using vav-consecutive perfect to express future contingency. The response begins with veshamati {וְשָׁמַעְתִּי | wə-šām-ʿâ-tî} ‘and I will hear’, affirming divine responsiveness, which is then defined by the nominal clause channun ani {כִּי חַנּוּן אָנִי | kî ḥan-nûn ʾā-nî} ‘for I am gracious’, framing the Lord’s merciful disposition. |