| 26. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the infinitive construct beshuv {בְּשׁוּב־ | bə-šuv} ‘turning away,’ forming a temporal-conditional clause. The subject tsaddiq {צַדִּיק | ṣad-dîq} ‘righteous one’ links to mi-tsidkato {מִצִּדְקָת֛וֹ | mi-ṣid-qā-tō} ‘from his righteousness,’ marking prior status. The waw-consecutive ve-asah {וְעָ֥שָׂה | wə-ʿā-sāh} ‘and he did’ introduces the act avel {עָוֶל | ʿā-wel} ‘injustice.’ Next ū-met {וּמֵ֣ת | ū-mēt} ‘and he died’ denotes the consequence, with ʿaleihem {עֲלֵיהֶ֑ם | ʿă-lê-hem} ‘upon them’ pointing back to those injustices. The causal phrase be-avlo {בְּעַוְל֥וֹ | bə-ʿaw-lō} ‘for his wrongdoing’ is specified by the relative clause a-sher-asah {אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂ֖ה | ʾă-šer-ʿā-sāh} ‘which he did.’ The concluding imperfect yamut {יָמֽוּת׃ | yā-mût} ‘he will die’ repeats the judgment theme. This chiastic and repetitive pattern underscores individual accountability and the principle of measure for measure. |