| 8. Linguistic Exegesis The Hebrew construct ervat eshet-avikha {עֶרְוַת אֵשֶׁת־אָבִיךָ | ʿer-wat e-shet-a-vī-kha} binds “nakedness” to “wife of your father.” The prohibition lo tegalleh {לֹא תְגַלֵּה | lo te-gal-leh} employs the negative particle lo plus the Piel imperfect to issue a direct command. The closing clause ervat avikha hi {עֶרְוַת אָבִיךָ הִוא | ʿer-wat a-vī-kha hu} uses an emphatic pronoun to equate the wife’s exposure with the father’s own nakedness, reinforcing familial hierarchy. In translation, the construct relationship is mirrored with “of,” and the emphatic copula “it is” preserves the force of Hebrew hi. |