| 8. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the emphatic particle gam {גַּם | gam} linking the personified subjects beroshim {בְּרוֹשִׁים | bə-rô-šîm} “cypress trees” and arzei levanon {אַרְזֵי לְבָנֹן | ar-zê lə-vanôn} “cedars of Lebanon.” The Qal perfect samkhu lekha {שָׂמְחוּ לְךָ | śā-mə-ḥû lə-kha} conveys completed rejoicing directed toward “you.” The temporal phrase meaz shakhavta {מֵאָז שָׁכַבְתָּ | mê-ʾāz sha-khav-tā} marks the point since “you laid down,” and the negated imperfect lo-yaaleh hakoret aleinu {לֹא־יַעֲלֶה הַכֹּרֵת עָלֵינוּ | lō-ya-ʿā-leh ha-kō-ret ʿā-le-nu} expresses the absence of the cutter, using the participle hakoret as a metaphor for the oppressor. This juxtaposition of perfect and imperfect forms heightens the irony of nature’s triumph in the former destroyer’s absence. |