| 2. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the verbs dabberu {דַּבְּרוּ | dabberu} ‘speak’ and va-amartem {וַאֲמַרְתֶּם | va-amartem} ‘and you shall say’ in sequence, establishing a priestly directive. The construct phrase benei Yisrael {בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל | benei yisrael} ‘sons of Israel’ identifies the recipients. The duplication ish ish {אִישׁ אִישׁ | ish ish} ‘any man’ employs distributive repetition to indicate universality. The conjunction ki {כִּי | ki} introduces a conditional clause (protasis) marked by the imperfect yihyeh {יִהְיֶה | yihyeh} ‘there is/shall be’. The participle zav {זָב | zav} ‘one with a discharge’ functions as the subject of the protasis, further qualified by the prepositional phrase mibbsaro {מִבְּשָׂר֔וֹ | mibbsaro} ‘from his flesh’. The noun zovo {זוֹב֖וֹ | zovo} ‘his discharge’ transitions into the apodosis, which states the result using the adjective tamei {טָמֵא | tamei} ‘unclean’ followed by the pronoun hu {הוּא | hu} ‘he’. This structure follows the Hebrew legal pattern of protasis–apodosis, linking a physical condition to a ritual status. |