Job 13:17 — ExegesisTAB

The verse opens with a direct command, shim'u {שִׁמְע֣וּ | šimʿû} ‘hear’, immediately reinforced by the infinitive absolute shamoa {שָׁ֭מוֹעַ | šāmôaʿ} ‘hear intensely’, a standard Hebrew intensification that heightens urgency. Two coordinated objects follow—milati {מִלָּתִ֑י | millāṯî} ‘my word’ and ve'achavati {וְ֝אֽ͏ַחֲוָתִ֗י | wə-ʾaḥăwāṯî} ‘and my declaration’—forming a paired appeal that frames Job’s speech as both utterance and formal statement. The closing prepositional phrase be'ozneikhem {בְּאָזְנֵיכֶֽם | bə-ʾāz-nê-kem} ‘in your ears’ functions adverbially, pressing for direct, personal reception rather than distant hearing. English renders the Hebrew verbal intensification with an adverbial reinforcement (“indeed,” “carefully”) while keeping the two objects and the final “ears” phrase to preserve the verse’s rhetorical insistence.