Leviticus 15:25ExegesisTAB

Leviticus 15 : 25 Impurity | Duration | Separation
25. Linguistic Exegesis
The verse opens with the conditional particle ki {כִּי | kî} ‘when/if’, marking a hypothetical legal scenario. The Qal imperfect yazuv {יָזוּב | yāzûv} ‘flows/discharges’ governs the noun zov {זוֹב | zôv} ‘discharge’, and the temporal phrase yamim rabbim {יָמִים רַבִּים | yā-mîm rab-bîm} ‘many days’ extends the duration. The prepositional phrase belo et-niddatah {בְּלֹא עֶת־נִדָּתָהּ | be-lô ʿeṯ-nid-dā-ṯāh} ‘outside the time of her separation’ delimits the expected cycle. The conjunction o {אוֹ | ʾō} and second conditional ki-tazuv al-niddatah {כִּי־תָזוּב עַל־נִדָּתָהּ | kî-tā-zûv ʿal-nid-dā-ṯāh} introduce an alternative extension of the flow. The construct chain kol-yemei zov tumatah {כָּל־יְמֵי זוֹב טֻמְאָתָהּ | kol-yə-mê zôv ṭū-mə-ʾā-ṯāh} ‘all the days of the discharge of her impurity’ parallels ki-mei-niddatah {כִּימֵי־נִדָּתָהּ | kî-mê-nid-dā-ṯāh} ‘as the days of her separation’, emphasizing continuous ritual status. The concluding clause tihyeh tme’ah hi {תִּהְיֶה טְמֵאָה הִוא | tī-hyêh ṭə-mê-ʾāh hîʾ} ‘she shall be unclean’ states the legal consequence. English maintains the conditional “if” to preserve the hypothetical nuance, and reproduces the Hebrew parallelism with “all…of” and “as the days.”

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