| 12. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the construct chain uven shemonat yamim {וּבֶן־שְׁמֹנַת יָמִים | û-ḇen-šə-mō-nat yā-mîm} ‘a son of eight days’, functioning adverbially to specify age. The Qal imperfect verb yimmol {יִמּוֹל | yim-mōl} ‘he shall be circumcised’ expresses a continual legal requirement. The indirect object lakhem {לָכֶם | lā-ḵem} ‘for you’ locates the obligation within the covenant community. The distributive kol zakhar {כָּל־זָכָר | kāl-zā-ḵār} ‘every male’ broadens inclusion to all males. Ledoroteikhem {לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם | lə-ḏō-rō-tê-ḵem} ‘for your generations’ extends the command across time. Nominal phrases yelid bayit {יְלִיד בָּיִת | yə-lîḏ bā-yit} ‘one born in the household’ and umiknat keseph {וּמִקְנַת־כֶּסֶף | û-mi-qnaṯ-ke-sep̄} ‘and acquired with silver’ outline natural-born and purchased members. The phrase mikol ben-nechar {מִכֹּל בֶּן־נֵכָר | mi-kōl ben-nê-ḵār} ‘from every son of a foreigner’ plus the relative clause asher lo mizzar'akha hu {אֲשֶׁר לֹא מִזַּרְעֲךָ הֽוּא | ʾă-šer lō miz-zar-ʿă-ḵā hû} ‘who is not from your descendants’ narrows inclusion to non-native members. English rendering distributes modifiers into clear temporal, causal, and relative clauses to preserve the detailed legal scope while maintaining readability. |