| 10. Linguistic Exegesis The opening veulam {וְאוּלָם | wə-ʾûlām} ‘yet’ sets an adversative turn, signaling Job’s rebuttal to his interlocutors. The collective kullam {כֻּלָּם | kullām} foregrounds the whole group as the addressee, intensifying the confrontation. The imperfect tashuvu {תָּשֻׁבוּ | tāšûḇû} ‘you will return’ functions with volitive force alongside the following imperative uvo {וּבֹאוּ | ûḇōʾû} ‘and come’, producing a sharp, summoning cadence. The particle na {נָא | nāʾ} ‘please’ adds an entreating surface that can also carry irony in a disputational context. The clause pivots with velo-emtsa {וְלֹא־אֶמְצָא | wə-lōʾ-ʾemṣāʾ} ‘and I will not find’, shifting to first-person resolve and presenting Job’s anticipated outcome. The prepositional phrase bakhem {בָכֶם | bākem} ‘among you’ defines the search-domain, while the singular predicate chakam {חָכָם | ḥākām} ‘wise one’ is used substantively and indefinitely, highlighting that not even one genuinely wise person is present in their company. |