Job 15:28 — ExegesisTAB

The verse opens with the fronted wayyišḵōn {וַיִּשְׁכּ֤וֹן | wayyišḵōn} ‘and he dwells,’ placing the subject’s chosen habitation under the spotlight before any description of place. The first complement is a compact noun-plus-participle phrase, ʿārîm niḵḥāḏôṯ {עָ֘רִ֤ים נִכְחָד֗וֹת | ʿārîm niḵḥāḏôṯ} ‘cities desolated,’ where the participle functions adjectivally to depict a settled state of devastation. A second, parallel complement follows: bāttîm {בָּ֭תִּים | bāttîm} ‘houses,’ expanded by a negated verbal clause lōʾ-yēšəḇû lāmô {לֹא־יֵ֣שְׁבוּ לָ֑מוֹ | lōʾ-yēšəḇû lāmô}, literally ‘they do not dwell for them,’ using an impersonal plural ‘they dwell’ to convey ‘no one lives,’ while lāmô adds a dative nuance of ‘for them/there’ that reinforces the absence of suitable inhabitants. The relative clause ʾăšer hitʿattədû ləgallîm {אֲשֶׁ֖ר הִתְעַתְּד֣וּ לְגַלִּֽים | ʾăšer hitʿattədû ləgallîm} modifies ‘houses,’ presenting their end-state as pre-decided: they are ‘made ready’ for ‘heaps,’ with lə- marking purpose/result. In English, the Hebrew’s paratactic piling of place-descriptions is rendered with balanced phrases (‘in … cities …, in … houses …’) so the parallelism remains audible while the relative clause is clarified as referring specifically to the houses.