| 11. Linguistic Exegesis The verse uses synonymous parallelism to portray fading abundance. The first clause, azlu-mayim {אָֽזְלוּ־מַ֭יִם | ʾāz-lû-mā-yim} ‘waters have gone away’ combined with the source marker minni-yam {מִנִּי-יָ֑ם | min-nî-yām} ‘from the sea,’ evokes an image of a boundless reservoir emptied. The second clause parallels this with venahar {וְ֝נָהָ֗ר | wə-nā-hār} ‘and a river’ as subject, followed by two imperfect verbs yecherav {יֶחֱרַ֥ב | ye-ḥĕ-rav} ‘it dries up’ and veyavesh {וְיָבֵֽשׁ | wə-yā-vēš} ‘and it withers,’ advancing from initial drying to full desiccation. The imperfect forms imply a process rather than a discrete action, which English reflects by present-tense verbs (“dries up,” “withers”). The choice of azlu (“vanish”) underscores sudden disappearance, anticipating the metaphor of human mortality in Job’s reflection. |