| 10. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with koh ʾāmar {כֹּה אָמַר | kō ʾā-mar} ‘thus He said,’ introducing a divine oracle with Yahweh {יְהוָה | Yə-hō-wāh} as speaker. The phrase lā-ʿām haz-zeh {לָעָם הַזֶּה | lā-ʿām haz-zeh} identifies the addressee “to this people.” The adverb + perfect construction kēn ā-hă-ḇû lā-nû-ʿaʿ {כֵּן אָֽהֲבוּ לָנוּעַ | kēn ā-hă-ḇû lā-nû-ʿaʿ} conveys habitual desire “thus they love to wander.” Rag-lê-hem lōʾ ḥā-sā-ḵû {רַגְלֵיהֶם לֹא חָשָׂכוּ | rag-lê-hem lōʾ ḥā-sā-ḵû} is an idiom for unrestrained behavior. The vav-consecutive wa-Yə-hō-wāh lōʾ rā-ṣām {וַיהוָה לֹא רָצָם | wa-yə-hō-wāh lōʾ rā-ṣām} indicates divine refusal. Finally, ʿattāh yiz-kōr ʿă-ḇō-nām wə-yif-qōḏ ḥat-tō-ṯām {עַתָּה יִזְכֹּר עֲוֺנָם וְיִפְקֹד חַטֹּאתָם | ʿattāh yiz-kōr ʿă-ḇō-nām wə-yif-qōḏ ḥat-tō-ṯām} is a future parallelism “now He will remember their iniquity and will visit their sins,” expressing judicial action. The translation retains Hebrew syntax and clarifies idiomatic expressions. |