| 2. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with a sequence of vav-consecutive imperfects: ulekachum {וּלְקָח֣וּם | wə-le-qā-ḥûm} ‘and they shall take them’ and vehevium {וֶהֱבִיא֣וּם | və-he-vī-ʾûm} ‘and they shall bring them’, establishing foreign-nation agency. Next, vehitnachalum {וְהִֽתְנַחֲל֣וּם | və-hit-na-ḥa-lûm} in the Hitpael stem ‘and they shall possess themselves as an inheritance’ links to the subject beit-yisrael {בֵּֽית־יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל | bēt-yiś-rā-ʾēl} and locative al admat Yahweh {עַ֚ל אַדְמַ֣ת יְהוָ֔ה | ʿal ʾaḏ-maṯ yə-hō-wāh}, marking a covenantal land grant. The coordinated phrase laavadim velishfachot {לַעֲבָדִ֖ים וְלִשְׁפָח֑וֹת | la-ʿă-vā-dîm və-liš-pā-ḥôṯ} defines servile status. In the reversal section, the perfect vehayu {وְהָיוּ֙ | və-ḥā-yû} ‘and they shall become’ precedes the participle shovim {שֹׁבִ֣ים | šō-wîm} ‘captors’ with the benefactive leshoveihem {לְשֹֽׁבֵיהֶ֔ם | lə-šō-wê-hêm} ‘to their captors’, and the perfect veradu {וְרָד֖וּ | və-rā-ḏû} ‘and they shall rule’ precedes benogsehem {בְּנֹגְשֵׂיהֶֽם | bē-nō-ḡĕ-še-hêm} ‘over their oppressors’, forming a chiastic reversal that emphasizes Israel’s restoration of authority. |