| 19. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the vav-consecutive subject clause ve’ishah {וְאִשָּׁה֙ | wə-ʾiš-šāh} ‘and a woman’, followed by the temporal conjunction kî {כִּֽי־ | kî} ‘when’. The Qal imperfect tî-hyēh {תִהְיֶ֣ה | tî-hyēh} ‘she shall become’ introduces the first protasis, with the participle zā-vāh {זָבָ֔ה | zā-vāh} ‘one having a discharge’ as predicate. Blood is then specified by the predicate nominative dām {דָּ֛ם | dām} ‘blood’ and the spatial phrase biv-sā-rāh {בִּבְשָׂרָ֑הּ | biv-sā-rāh} ‘in her flesh’, localizing the condition. The construct phrase šiv-ʿaṯ yā-mîm {שִׁבְעַ֤ת יָמִים֙ | šiv-ʿaṯ yā-mîm} ‘seven days’ marks a fixed duration. The second imperfect tî-hyēh {תִּהְיֶ֣ה | tî-hyēh} launches the apodosis expressing the consequence בְּנִדָּתָהּ ‘in her impurity’. In the apodotic clause, the conjunction wə-kol {וְכָל־ | wə-kol} ‘and all’, with the Piel participle han-nō-ḡē-ʿa {הַנֹּגֵ֥עַ | han-nō-ḡē-ʿa} ‘touching’, frames the subject for the second consequence. The imperfect yiṯ-mā‘ {יִטְמָ֥א | yiṯ-mā‘} ‘shall become unclean’ prescribes ritual status, and the delimiting phrase ʿad hā-ʾā-reḇ {עַד־הָעָֽרֶב | ʿad hā-ʾā-reḇ} ‘until the evening’ sets the temporal boundary. This protasis–apodosis pattern with temporal markers undergirds the law’s regulatory force, and the English version retains Hebrew clause order within an English SVO framework. |