| 40. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the vav-consecutive clause veish {וְאִ֕ישׁ | wə-ʾîš} ‘and a man’, introducing a casuistic law. The particle kî {כִּ֥י | kî} signals a conditional protasis. The verb yimmāreṭ {יִמָּרֵ֖ט | yimmāreṭ} in the Niphal imperfect conveys a resultant state of hair loss rather than volitional action. The construct rōʾšô {רֹאשׁ֑וֹ | rōʾšô} ‘his head’ specifies the affected area, leading into the predicate nominal qērēaḥ hûʾ {קֵרֵ֥חַ ה֖וּא | qērēaḥ hûʾ} ‘bald he is’ immediately mirrored by tāhôr hûʾ {טָה֥וֹר הֽוּא׃ | tāhôr hûʾ} ‘he is pure’, where the emphatic pronoun hûʾ underscores the affirmation of ritual purity. This parallel structure emphasizes the legal declaration of purity unaffected by baldness. The translation strategy preserves the non-volitional nuance of yimmāreṭ across both renderings, ensuring the absence of hair is presented as an involuntary condition. |