| 7. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with vehayah ki {וְהָיָה כִּי | vәhayāh kî} ‘and it shall be when’, a prophetic future-introducing formula. The construction yōʼmərū ʼēlêkā {יֹאמְרוּ אֵלֶיךָ | yōʼmərū ʼēlêkā} ‘they will say to you’ frames the audience’s inquiry, and ʿal-māh {עַל־מָה | ʿal-māh} ‘concerning what’ is followed by the Niphal participle nĕʼănāḥ {נֶאֶנָּח | nĕʼănāḥ} ‘you groan’, an involuntary emotional response. The directive wəʼāmarṯā {וְאָמַרְתָּ | wəʼāmarṯā} ‘and you shall say’ introduces the report šəmûwāh {שְׁמוּעָה | šəmûwāh} ‘report/news’, qualified by kî bāʼāh {כִּי בָאָה | kî bāʼāh} ‘for it is coming’. Four parallel result clauses—wə-nāmās kol-lēḇ {וְנָמַס כָּל־לֵב | wə-nāmās kol-lēḇ} ‘every heart will melt’, wə-rāp̄û kol-yiddayîm {וְרָפוּ כָּל־יַדַּיִם | wə-rāp̄û kol-yiddayîm} ‘all hands will become feeble’, wə-hāḵāṯā kol-rûaḥ {וְכָהֲתָה כָּל־רוּחַ | wə-hāḵāṯā kol-rûaḥ} ‘every spirit will faint’, and wə-kol-birrăqāyîm tēlakkənāh māyim {וְכָל־בִּרְכַּיִם תֵּלַכְנָה מַיִם | wə-kol-birrăqāyîm tēlakkənāh māyim} ‘all knees will go like water’—employ syntactic parallelism to depict total collapse. The closing hinnēh bāʼāh wə-nihyətāh {הִנָּה בָאָה וְנִהְיָתָה | hinnēh bāʼāh wə-nihyətāh} ‘look, it is coming and it will come to pass’ precedes the prophetic signature nəʼûm ʼădōnāy Yahweh {נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה | nəʼûm ʼădōnāy Yahweh} ‘utterance of the Lord GOD’, affirming divine authority and certainty. |