| 28. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with velo {וְלֹא | wə-lōʾ} marking a negative jussive that expresses warning or purpose. The verb taqi {תָקִיא | tāqīʾ} personifies haarets {הָאָרֶץ | hā-ʾā-reṣ} as the agent expelling its inhabitants. The infinitive betamaachem {בְּטַמַּאֲכֶם | bə-tammaʾă-chem} defines the state of ritual impurity prompting the warning. Direct-object markers etchem {אֶתְכֶם | ʾet-khem} and otah {אֹתָהּ | ʾô-ṯāh} identify those at risk. The comparative kaasher {כַּאֲשֶׁר | ka-ʾă-šer} introduces a parallel with the perfect verb kaa {קָאָה | qā-ʾā}, recalling the land’s prior expulsion of ethagoy {אֶת־הַגּוֹי | ʾet-ha-gôy}. The relative asher {אֲשֶׁר | ʾă-šer} and the construct lifneichem {לִפְנֵיכֶם | li-pnê-ḵem} set the temporal reference to those before Israel. The Hebrew VSO order and the negative jussive are rendered as a purpose clause in the target language to preserve the cautionary tone and causal flow. |