| 8. Linguistic Exegesis The verse consists of two parallel poetic cola introduced by simile markers kachalom {כַּחֲל֣וֹם | ka-ḥă-lôm} ‘like a dream’ and kechezyon {כְּחֶזְי֥וֹן | kə-ḥez-yôn} ‘like a vision.’ In the first cola, yaʿuf {יָ֭עוּף | yā-ʿûp} ‘he flies away’ conveys sudden disappearance, immediately followed by the negated result velo {וְלֹ֣א | wə-lō} + yimtzaʾuhu {יִמְצָא֑וּהוּ | yim-ṣāʾ-u-hû} ‘they do not find him,’ where the plural subject indicates general observers. The second cola mirrors this pattern with the passive nuance of veyuddad {וְ֝יֻדַּ֗ד | wə-yud-dad} ‘he is chased away,’ intensifying removal. Laylah {לָֽיְלָה | lāy-lāh} ‘night’ specifies the temporal context of the vision, reinforcing the theme of ephemerality. |