| 14. Linguistic Exegesis The clause opens with vehayah {וְהָיָה֙ | wə-hā-yāh} ‘and it will be’, linking this description to the preceding oracle as a resulting future scene. Two balanced similes follow: kitsvi mudakh {כִּצְבִ֣י מֻדָּ֔ח | kiṣḇî muddāḥ} ‘like a gazelle driven away’ and uketson ve-ein mekabets {וּכְצֹ֖אן וְאֵ֣ין מְקַבֵּ֑ץ | ûḵəṣōʾn wə-ʾên məqabbēṣ} ‘and like sheep with no gatherer’. The passive participle mudakh {מֻדָּ֔ח | muddāḥ} highlights enforced displacement, while the negated existential ve-ein {וְאֵ֣ין | wə-ʾên} foregrounds absence of control or protection, as if a flock has lost the one who regathers it. The imagery then resolves into human behavior through a distributive pattern: ish el-ammo yifnu {אִישׁ אֶל־עַמּוֹ֙ יִפְנ֔וּ | ʾîš ʾel-ʿammô yipnû} and ve-ish el-artzo yanusu {וְאִ֥ישׁ אֶל־אַרְצ֖וֹ יָנֽוּסוּ | wə-ʾîš ʾel-ʾarṣô yānûsû}. Although ish {אִישׁ | ʾîš} is singular, the following plural imperfects yifnu {יִפְנ֔וּ | yipnû} and yanusu {יָנֽוּסוּ | yānûsû} express a collective reaction: individuals act in the same way. The parallel prepositional goals “to his people” and “to his land” intensify the sense of dispersal and retreat, moving from reorientation (turning) to urgent escape (fleeing). |