| 21. Linguistic Exegesis The verse is a two-line poetic parallelism built around a desired act of advocacy. The opening verb veyokhach {וְיוֹכַ֣ח | wə-yōḵaḥ} ‘may he plead’ (Hiphil) presents an optative sense, expressing longing that an advocate would take up Job’s case. The first colon sets the vertical forum: legever {לְגֶ֣בֶר | lə-ḡeḇer} ‘for a man’ defines the beneficiary, while im-eloah {עִם־אֱל֑וֹהַּ | ʿim-ʾĕlôah} ‘with God’ places the dispute before the divine court. The second colon restates the same advocacy by analogy: uven-adam {וּֽבֶן־אָדָ֥ם | ûḇen-ʾāḏām} ‘and a son of man’ reframes the advocate in purely human terms, and lere'ehu {לְרֵעֵֽהוּ | lə-rēʿēhû} ‘for his friend’ supplies the familiar social setting. English rendering keeps the parallel cola and uses “plead/argue a case” to convey y-kh-ch {י־כ־ח | yōḵaḥ} in a judicial, representative sense rather than mere debate. |