| 19. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with an emphatic question formed by the infinitive absolute hamaos {הֲמָאֹס | ha-māʾōs} ‘utterly reject’ paired with the Qal perfect maasta {מָאַסְתָּ | māʼasta} ‘you have rejected’, intensifying the address to Yahweh. The conditional conjunction im {אִם־ | ʾim} ‘if’ introduces a second rhetorical contrast, linking betziyon {בְּצִיּוֹן | bəṣiyyōn} ‘in Zion’ with the perfect gaalah {גָּעֲלָה | gāʿălāh} ‘has loathed’, which takes the feminine singular subject nafshekha {נַפְשֶׁךָ | nap̄šekā} ‘your soul’. The interrogative adverb maddua {מַדּוּעַ | maddûaʿ} ‘why’ then launches a lament, followed by the Hiphil perfect hikkitanu {הִכִּיתָנוּ | hikkītānu} ‘you have struck us’. The existential sequence ve-ein lanu {וְאֵין לָנוּ | wəʾēn lānu} ‘and there is not for us’ frames marpe {מַרְפֵּא | mārpē} ‘healing’ as the expected result. Next, the imperative kave leshalom {קַוֵּה לְשָׁלוֹם | qawwē ləšālōm} ‘hope for peace’ is mirrored by another existential clause ve-ein tov {וְאֵין טוֹב | wəʾēn ṭôv} ‘and there is no good’. The coordinate u-le-et marpe {וּלְעֵת מַרְפֵּא | ūlʿēt mārpē} ‘and for a time of healing’ leads to the climactic vehinne be-atah {וְהִנֵּה בְעָתָה | wəhinēh bəʿātāh} ‘and behold, in terror’. The parallel rhetorical structure and repetition underscore the speaker’s despair, while the shift from anticipated restoration to terror produces dramatic reversal. |