| 9. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with a causal conjunction al-ken {עַל־כֵּן | ʿal-kên} ‘therefore,’ tying this vow to its preceding oracle. The Qal imperfect evkeh {אֶבְכֶּה | ʾev-qê} ‘I will weep’ is emphatically reinforced by the prepositional instrument bivkhi {בִּבְכִי | bivqî} ‘with weeping,’ doubling the expression of grief. A nominal fusion then links yazer {יַעְזֵר | yā-ʿzêr} ‘Jazer’ with gefen {גֶּפֶן | ge-pen} ‘vine’ and sibmah {שִׂבְמָה | sib-mâ} ‘Sibmah’ in a poetic parallelism that imagines the city mourning itself. The discourse shifts with the Piel imperfect arayyavekh {אֲרַיָּוֶךְ | ʾă-ra-yā-vekh} ‘I will drench you,’ taking dimati {דִּמְעָתִי | dim-ʿā-tî} ‘my tears’ as its direct object to convey the outpouring of sorrow. Vocatives heshbon {חֶשְׁבּוֹן | ḥesh-bôn} and ve-elaleh {וְאֶלְעָלֵה | wə-ʾel-ʿā-lêh} name the afflicted towns. The conjunction ki {כִּי | kî} ‘for’ introduces an explanatory clause in which heidad {הֵידָד | hêy-yā-dâd} ‘shout’ governed by nafal {נָפָל | nā-pâl} ‘has fallen’ forms the predicate. Two parallel prepositional phrases, al-kaytsekh {עַל־קֵיצֵךְ | ʿal-qê-ṣêkh} ‘over your summer fruit’ and ve-al-ketsi-rekh {וְעַל־קְצִירֵךְ | wə-ʿal-qə-ṣî-rekh} ‘and over your harvest,’ frame the cause of lament. The English reproduction retains the Hebrew’s semicolon and repeated prepositions to mirror the original parallelism and thematic emphasis on loss of agricultural rejoicing. |