| 8. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the waw-consecutive Qal perfect verb ve-shav {וְשָׁב֙ | wə-šāv} ‘turns’, forming the protasis of a conditional sentence. The noun phrase ha-gôy hah-hūʾ {הַגּ֣וֹי הַה֔וּא | ha-gôy hah-hūʾ} ‘that nation’ is marked for definiteness and specificity. The prepositional phrase mē-rā-ʿā-ṯō {מֵרָעָת֔וֹ | mē-rā-ʿā-ṯō} ‘from its evil’ identifies the behavior to cease. A relative clause introduced by ʾă-šer {אֲשֶׁר | ʾă-šer} refers back to the divine warning expressed by the Piel perfect verb dib-bār-tî {דִּבַּרְתִּי | dib-bār-tî}. In the apodosis, the conjunctive Nifal perfect wə-ni-ḥam-tî {וְנִחַמְתִּי֙ | wə-ni-ḥam-tî} ‘I will relent’ signals the reversal of judgment contingent on human action. A second relative clause with ʾă-šer and the Qal perfect verb ḥā-šaḇ-tî {חָשַבְתִּי | ḥā-šaḇ-tî} articulates the intended action, and the infinitive construct la-ʿă-śōṯ {לַעֲשׂוֹת | la-ʿă-śōṯ} with the pronominal suffix lō completes the apodosis. This protasis–apodosis structure highlights the conditional nature of divine mercy and judgment. |