| 20. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with two fronted prepositional phrases, be'ori {בְּעוֹרִי | bəʿôrî} ‘in my skin’ and uvivsari {וּבִבְשָׂרִי | ûḇiḇśārî} ‘and in my flesh’, establishing the bodily setting before naming the subject. The predicate davqah {דָּבְקָה | dāḇəqāh} ‘clung’ appears in the feminine singular, creating a discordant agreement with atzmi {עַצְמִי | ʿaṣmî} ‘my bone’; in poetic Hebrew this can occur as a stylistic or idiomatic feature, while still communicating the vivid image of bone pressed tight against the body. The second clause is introduced by va'etmalleth {וָאֶתְמַלְּטָה | wāʾeṯmalləṭāh}, where vav consecutive links the result to the condition described, portraying survival as something narrowly achieved. The closing phrase be'or shinay {בְּע֣וֹר שִׁנָּֽי | bəʿôr šinnāy} ‘with the skin of my teeth’ functions as an idiom for a near miss; English can preserve the idiom to retain the sharp, concrete imagery of the Hebrew line. |