| 4. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the direct object marker et-mishpatai {אֶת־מִשְׁפָּטַי | ʾeṯ-mish-pā-ṭāy} ‘my judgments’, which is the object of the imperative taʿă-śû {תַּעֲשׂ֛וּ | taʿă-śû} ‘you shall do’. The conjunction wə-ʾeṯ-ḥûq-qō-ṯāy {וְאֶת־חֻקֹּתַי | wə-ʾeṯ-ḥûq-qō-ṯāy} ‘and my statutes’ parallels the first object and links to tiš-me-rû {תִּשְׁמְרוּ | tiš-me-rû} ‘you shall keep’, creating balanced parallelism. The infinitive construct lā-le-ḵeṯ {לָלֶכֶת | lā-le-ḵeṯ} plus bā-hem {בָּהֶם | bā-hem} functions as a purpose clause (‘to walk in them’), specifying the manner of observance. The covenant formula ʾă-nî Yəhō-wāh ʾĕ-lō-hê-ḵem {אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם | ʾă-nî Yəhō-wāh ʾĕ-lō-hê-ḵem} ‘I am the LORD your God’ employs the first-person pronoun and divine names in an emphatic independent clause, grounding the commands in divine authority. The English preserves these patterns by maintaining parallel imperatives and rendering the Hebrew infinitive of purpose as a natural participial phrase. |