| 6. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with chazu {חָ֤זוּ | chāzû} “they have seen,” taking two direct objects, shav {שָׁוְא֙ | šāwʾ} “emptiness” and qesem {קֶ֣סֶם | qésem} “divination,” framed by kazav {כָּזָ֔ב | kāzāv} “lie” to intensify the deceit. Haʾomrim {הָאֹֽמְרִים֙ | hāʾōmrîm} “those who say” introduces the prophetic claim neʾum-Yahweh {נְאֻם־יְהוָ֔ה | nᵉʾûm} “utterance of the LORD,” followed by the vav-consecutive vayhôwâ {וַֽיהוָ֖ה | wayhôwâ} with lo {לֹ֣א | lōʾ} “not” to deliver divine rejection. The imperfect veyichallu {וְיִֽחֲל֖וּ | wəyiḥallû} “and they expect” plus the Piel infinitive leqayyem {לְקַיֵּ֥ם | ləqayyēm} “to establish/confirm” with davar {דָּבָֽר׃ | dāḇār} “word” conveys these false prophets’ own expectation of fulfillment. The vav-consecutives underscore the contrast between divine denial and human anticipation. |