| 25. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the emphatic interjection khalilah {חָלִ֨לָה | ḥā-lî-lāh} expressing strong moral refusal, followed by the indirect object lekha {לְּךָ֜ | lə-kā} “to you.” A prepositional infinitive clause me’asot kadavar hazzeh {מֵעֲשֹׂ֣ת כַּדָּבָ֣ר הַזֶּ֗ה | mē-ʿă-śōt ka-dā-ḏār ha-z-zēh} “from doing such a thing as this” specifies the reproved action. The Hiphil infinitive lehamit {לְהָמִ֤ית | lə-hā-mît} “to put to death” takes substantivized adjectives tsaddiq ʿim rashaʿ {צַדִּיק֙ עִם־רָשָׁ֔ע | ṣad-dîq ʿim rā-šāʿ} “the righteous with the wicked” as its objects. A vav result clause vehayah katsaddiq karashaʿ {וְהָיָ֥ה כַצַדִּ֖יק כָּרָשָׁ֑ע | wə-hā-yāh ka-ṣad-dîq kā-rā-šāʿ} “and it will be that the righteous are like the wicked” underscores the injustice. The repeated khalilah {חָלִ֣לָה | ḥā-lî-lāh} heightens the plea, leading into the interrogative ha-shofet kol ha’arets lo ya‘aseh mishpat {הֲשֹׁפֵט כָּל־הָאָ֔רֶץ לֹ֥א יַעֲשֶׂ֖ה מִשְׁפָּֽט | ha-šō-p̄ēṭ kāl hā-ʾā-reṣ lōʾ ya-ʿă-śeh miš-pāṭ} “Shall the Judge of all the earth not do justice?” This progression—from repudiation, to depiction of the wrong, to a climactic rhetorical question—preserves the Hebrew’s legal-theological weight and argumentative force. |