Ezekiel 17:20ExegesisTAB

Ezekiel 17 : 20 Judgment | Betrayal | Sovereignty
20. Linguistic Exegesis
The verse begins with the waw-consecutive on ufarashti {וּפָרַשְׂתִּי | û-p̄ā-raś-tî} ‘and I will spread,’ establishing sequential prophetic narration. The prepositional phrase alav {עָלָיו | ʿā-lāw} ‘over him’ marks the target of divine action. The paired nouns rishti {רִשְׁתִּי | riš-tî} ‘my net’ and bimetzudati {בִּמְצֽוּדָתִי | bi-mə-ṣu-ḏā-tî} ‘in my snare’ form a legal metaphor of inescapable capture. Vahaviotihu {וַהֲבִיאוֹתִיהוּ | wa-ha-ḇî-ʾō-ṯî-hū} employs the Hiphil perfect to convey divine agency in transferring the offender, followed by venishpateti {וְנִשְׁפַּטְתִּי | wə-niš-paṭ-tî} in the Niphal perfect to signify sovereign adjudication. The cognate accusative construction in maalo asher maalbi {מַעֲלוֹ אֲשֶׁר מָעַל־בִּי | ma-ʿă-lō ʾă-šer mā-ʿal-bî} ‘his unfaithfulness which he acted treacherously against me’ intensifies the legal charge. English expands the compact Hebrew verb–object order with connective phrases to preserve both immediacy and judicial gravity.

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