| 14. Linguistic Exegesis The verse is framed as a pair of rhetorical questions, introduced by mah-enosh {מָֽה־אֱנ֥וֹשׁ | māh-ʾĕnôš} ‘what is a mortal?’, which functions as an exclamatory interrogative highlighting human insignificance. Each question is advanced by a kî + yiqtol pattern: ki-yizkeh {כִּֽי־יִזְכֶּ֑ה | kî-yizkeh} ‘that he should be pure’ parallels ve-ki-yitsdaq {וְכִֽי־יִ֝צְדַּ֗ק | wə-kî-yiṣdaq} ‘and that he should be righteous’, producing balanced poetic parallelism (purity // righteousness). The yiqtol forms are not simple future here; in an interrogative setting they carry modal force (“could/should”), underscoring the speaker’s skepticism about human moral standing. The final noun phrase yelud ishah {יְל֣וּד אִשָּֽׁה | yəlûd ʾiššâ} ‘one born (of) woman’ is a compressed characterization of human origin, reinforcing creaturely limitation as the basis for the rhetorical argument. English is rendered with parallel questions to preserve the verse’s poetic symmetry and its intensifying logic. |