| 23. Linguistic Exegesis The verse employs a triadic parallelism of negation clauses: the perfect forms in ve-lo shameu {וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ | wə-lōʾ šā-mə-ʿû} ‘and did not hear’ and ve-lo hithu {וְלֹא הִטּוּ | wə-lōʾ hiṭ-ṭû} ‘and did not incline’, followed by the wayyiqtol vayakshu {וַיַּקְשׁוּ | way-yaq-šû} ‘and they stiffened’, which heightens resistance. The purpose marker le-bilti {לְבִלְתִּי | lə-ḇil-ti} ‘so as not’ introduces a negative purpose clause governing the infinitive constructs shemoa {שְׁמֹעַ | šə-mōaʿ} ‘to hear’ and kachat {קַחַת | qa-ḥat} ‘to take’, with musar {מוּסָר | mû-sār} ‘instruction’ specifying the refused guidance. The idiom of arpam {עָרְפָּם | ʿar-pām} functions as a cultural metaphor for stubborn disobedience, and the sequential negations underscore volitional refusal. |