| 29. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the plural imperative guru {גּ֤וּרוּ | gûrû} ‘fear,’ immediately individualized by the ethical dative lakhem {לָכֶ֨ם | lākem} ‘for yourselves,’ urging self-protective urgency. The marked pause paseq {׀ | pāseq} reinforces the admonitory tone before the prepositional threat-frame mipnei-kherev {מִפְּנֵי־חֶ֗רֶב | mippenê-ḥereb} ‘from before the sword.’ The causal clause introduced by ki-khemah {כִּֽי־חֵ֭מָה | kî-ḥēmāh} ‘for wrath’ is compressed and verbless, with avonot {עֲוֺנ֣וֹת | ʿăwōnōṯ} joined to charev {חָ֑רֶב | ḥāreb} in a tight nominal sequence; this allows two defensible readings: (1) “wrath brings punishments of the sword,” taking ‘punishments’ metonymically as penal consequences, or (2) “wrath calls for iniquities punishable by the sword,” taking ‘iniquities’ as the cause requiring violent reckoning. The final purpose clause lemaan {לְמַ֖עַן | ləmaʿan} ‘so that’ introduces tedeun {תֵּדְע֣וּן | tēdəʿûn} ‘you may know,’ making the warning didactic. The sequence sdin {שדין | šədîn} (ketiv) and shaddun {שַׁדּֽוּן | šaddûn} (qere) underscores the continuity of written and spoken tradition and highlights the certainty of divine judgment as the argument’s conclusion. |