| 11. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the adversative-temporal conjunction ve-atah {וְעַתָּה | wə-ʿat-tāh} ‘and now’, coupled with the entreaty emar-na {אֱמָר־נָא | ʾe-mār-nāʾ} ‘speak now’, forming a polite directive to ish-yehudah {אִישׁ־יְהוּדָה | ʾīš yə-hû-dāh} ‘man of Judah’ and yoshvei {יוֹשְׁבֵי | yōš-ḇê} yerushalayim {יְרוּשָׁלִַם | yə-rū-ša-la-yim} ‘inhabitants of Jerusalem’. The infinitive le-emor {לֵאמֹר | lē-ʾmōr} ‘to say’ introduces indirect speech leading into the prophetic formula koh amar Yahweh {כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה | kōh ʾā-mar Yə-hō-wāh}. The interjection hinneh {הִנֵּה | hin-nēh} ‘behold’ signals the divine announcement. Two Qal participles, yotzer {יוֹצֵר | yō-ṣēr} ‘forming’ and ve-khoshev {וְחֹשֵׁב | wə-ḥō-šēḇ} ‘planning’, each with the suffixed pronoun aleikhem {עֲלֵיכֶם | ʿă-lê-ḵem} ‘against you’, convey continuous divine action. The summons to repentance employs the Hiphil imperative ve-heitivu {וְהֵיטִיבוּ | wə-hê-ṭî-ḇû} ‘improve’ alongside the Qal imperative shuvu-na {שׁוּבוּ נָא | šû-ḇû nāʾ} ‘return now’, governing the parallel objects darkheikhem {דַּרְכֵיכֶם | darkhê-khem} ‘your ways’ and u-ma-alleikhem {וּמַעַלְלֵיכֶם | û-ma-ʿal-lê-ḥem} ‘your deeds’, preserving Hebrew parallelism and emphasizing holistic transformation. |