| 12. Linguistic Exegesis The verse comprises two coordinated prohibitions introduced by vav-consecutive constructions. The first prohibition begins with vav-lo {וְלֹא | wə-lōʾ} ‘and not’ plus the Qal imperfect tiš-šā-ḇə-ʿû {תִשָּׁבְעוּ | tiš-šā-ḇə-ʿû} ‘you shall swear,’ modified by the preposition biš-mî {בִּשְׁמִי | biš-mî} ‘by my name’ and the infinitive construct la-šā-qer {לַשָּׁקֶר | la-šā-qer} ‘to falsehood’ specifying manner. The second flows in ve-ḥil-lal-tā {וְחִלַּלְתָּ | wə-ḥil-lal-tā} ‘and you shall profane,’ where the direct-object marker ʾeṯ {אֵת | ʾeṯ} foregrounds šēm {שֵׁם | šēm} ‘name’ as patient. The construct form ʾĕ-lō-hê-kā {אֱלֹהֶיךָ | ʾĕ-lō-hê-kā} ‘your God’ indicates possession, and the concluding nominal clause ʾănî Yə-hō-wāh {אֲנִי יְהוָה | ʾănî Yə-hō-wāh} ‘I am the LORD’ asserts divine identity. The English combines the prohibitions into one flowing sentence to reflect parallelism, captures the intensive Piel sense with “profane,” and preserves the emphatic copula. |