| 19. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the Hiphil imperative haqshivah {הַקְשִׁיבָה | haq-šî-ḇāh} ‘pay attention’, addressed to the vocative divine name Yahweh {יְהוָה | Yə-hō-wāh}. This is followed by the prepositional phrase elai {אֵלָי | ʾē-lāy} ‘to me’. The conjunction vav on ushma {וּשְׁמַע | û-šə-maʿ} ‘and hear’ introduces a parallel imperative. The construct preposition leqol {לְקוֹל | lə-qōl} ‘to voice’ links to the possessive construct yerivai {יְרִיבָי | yə-rî-ḇāy} ‘of my adversaries’. These paired imperatives and the fronted vocative form a balanced plea structure, highlighting the call for divine attention before specifying the source of contention. English rendering splits the Hebrew compounds into two coordinated commands for clarity. |