| 2. Linguistic Exegesis The clause opens with the perfect verb shamati {שָׁמַעְתִּי | šāmaʿtî} ‘I have heard’, placing Job’s personal experience in the foreground before any objects are specified. The prepositional phrase ke'eleh {כְאֵ֣לֶּה | kəʾēlleh} ‘like these’ points anaphorically to the friends’ repeated speeches, and rabot {רַבּוֹת | rabbôt} ‘many’ intensifies the complaint by stressing frequency. The closing sequence menachamei amal {מְנַחֲמֵי עָמָל | mənaḥămê ʿāmāl} is a construct chain, literally “comforters of trouble,” functioning as an ironic label: those who should console instead are characterized by the very distress they produce. The final kulkhem {כֻלְּכֶם | kulləḵem} ‘all of you’ serves as a collective address that clinches the indictment; English supplies the implied copula (“are”) to render the Hebrew verbless predication clearly. |