| 10. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the vav-consecutive venas'u {וְנָשְׂא֖וּ | wə-nāś-’û} ‘and they will bear’, which continues the legal declaration from the preceding context. The possessive suffix in avonam {עֲוֺנָ֑ם | ʿă-wō-nām} ‘their iniquity’ identifies the liable parties. The parallel construct chains kaʿavon hadoreš {כַּֽעֲוֺן֙ הַדֹּרֵ֔שׁ | ka-ʿă-wō-n ha-dō-rēš} ‘as the iniquity of the inquirer’ and kaʿavon hanavi {כַעֲוֺ֥ן הַנָּבִ֖יא | ka-ʿă-wō-n ha-nā-ḇîʾ} ‘as the iniquity of the prophet’ employ comparative prepositions to equate liability. The participle hadoreš {הַדֹּרֵשׁ | ha-dō-rēš} functions as the first agent, paired with hanavi {הַנָּבִיא | ha-nā-ḇîʾ} as the second agent. The imperfect yiḥyēh {יִֽהְיֶֽה׃ | yiḥyēh} ‘it shall be’ distributes the judgment evenly, reflecting strict distributive justice. |