| 4. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with hen {הֵן | hēn} ‘behold’, an emphatic interjection introducing divine declaration. The phrase kol-ha-nefashot {כָּל־הַנְּפָשׁוֹת | kol-hanefāšōt} ‘all the souls’ coupled with li {לִי | lī} ‘to me’ forms a parallelism asserting ownership. The paired constructs ke-nefesh ha-av {כְּנֶפֶשׁ הָאָב | kə-nefeš hā-ʾāv} and u-ke-nefesh ha-ben {וּכְנֶפֶשׁ הַבֵּן | u-kə-nefeš ha-bēn} create a merismus comparing father and son under equal claim. The final clause hanefesh ha-chotet hi tamut {הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַחֹטֵאת הִיא תָמֽוּת | han-nefeš ha-ḥōṭēt hîʾ tāmut} employs the participle ha-ḥōṭēt ‘the sinning one’ for continuous action and the Qal imperfect tāmut ‘will die’ for the consequence in a protasis-consequence structure. |