| 17. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the vav-consecutive form veamarta {וְאָמַרְתָּ | wə-ʾā-marta} ‘and you shall say’, linking this instruction to the preceding prophecy. The phrase aleihem et hadavar hazzeh {אֲלֵיהֶם אֶת־הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה | ʾă-lê-hem ʾet ha-dā-var ha-zzeh} introduces the audience and the message. The jussive imperfect verbs teradnah {תֵּרַדְנָה | tē-raḏ-nāh} ‘may they run down’ and tidmenah {תִּדְמֶינָה | tid-mê-nāh} ‘may they cease’ express a fervent plea. The temporal adverbial lailah veyomam {לַיְלָה וְיוֹמָם | lailah wə-yō-mām} intensifies the unending duration. A causal clause introduced by ki {כִּי | kî} explains that nishberah {נִשְׁבְּרָה | niš-berāh} ‘it is broken’ refers back to the construct chain betulat bat-ammi {בְּתוּלַת בַּת־עַמִּי | bĕ-tû-lat bât-ʿam-mî}, a poetic personification of Jerusalem. The coordinated noun phrases shever gadol {שֶׁבֶר גָּדֹול | še-ver gā-dōl} and makkah nachlah meod {מַכָּה נַחְלָה מְאֹד | makkāh naḥ-lāh me-ʾōd} detail the nature and severity of the affliction. The translation shifts from Hebrew VSO to English SVO while preserving parallelism and emotive progression. |