| 15. Linguistic Exegesis The verse is arranged as two coordinated clauses joined by vav in veolalti {וְעֹלַלְתִּי | wə·ʿōlal·tî} ‘and I have defiled’, presenting a paired picture of grief and humiliation. The first clause places the object saq {שַׂק | śaq} ‘sackcloth’ before the verb tafarti {תָּפַרְתִּי | tāfar·tî} ‘I have sewn’, giving prominence to the mourning garment as the controlling image; the prepositional phrase aley gildi {עֲלֵי גִלְדִּי | ʿălê gil·dî} ‘upon my skin’ intensifies the lament by making the affliction immediate and bodily. The second clause uses a compact prepositional phrase beafar {בֶעָפָר | bə·ʿā·fār} ‘in the dust’ followed by the object qarni {קַרְנִי | qar·nî} ‘my horn’, a poetic metaphor for strength and public standing; placing ‘in the dust’ before ‘my horn’ highlights the location of disgrace and the reversal from honor to abasement. The Polel perfect veolalti carries a semantic range including ‘defile’, ‘lay low’, or ‘press down’. The formal choice ‘laid’ and dynamic ‘pressed’ emphasize the humiliation aspect rather than moral corruption. The English renderings preserve the concrete imagery while capturing the sense of bodily affliction and social abasement. |