| 19. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with a triad of construct-noun phrases addressed to Yahweh {יְהוָ֞ה | yəhōwāh} ‘LORD’. Uzzî {עֻזִּי | ʿuz-zî} ‘my strength’, umauzzi {וּמָעֻזִּ֛י | û-mā-ʿuz-zî} ‘my fortress’, and umenusi {וּמְנוּסִ֖י | û-mə-nû-sî} ‘my refuge’ form a parallel series, followed by the temporal clause beyom tsarah {בְּי֣וֹם צָרָ֑ה | bə-yōm ṣā-rāh} ‘in the day of trouble’. The second clause introduces a prophetic announcement with goyim {גּוֹיִ֤ם | gô-yim} ‘nations’ as subject of the verb yav’u {יָבֹ֙אוּ֙ | yā-ḇō-’û} ‘will come’, modified by me’afsei aretz {מֵֽאַפְסֵי־אָ֔רֶץ | mê-’ap-sê ʾā-reṣ} ‘from the ends of the earth’. The reported speech uses veyomru {וְיֹאמְר֗וּ | wə-yōm-rû} ‘and they will say’ with the emphatic adverb akh {אַךְ־ | ’aḵ} ‘surely’, followed by the paired nouns sheker {שֶׁקֶר | še-qer} ‘falsehood’ and hevel {הֶבל | he-ḇel} ‘vanity’, and concludes with the existential negation ve’ein bam {וְאֵֽין־בָּ֥ם | wə-’ên bām} ‘and there is not in them’ plus the noun mo’il {מוֹעִיל | mô-ʿîl} ‘profit’. The Hebrew parallelism of protective imagery and prophetic indictment shapes a solemn progression from trust in Yahweh to judgment on ancestral inheritance. |