| 6. Linguistic Exegesis The regulation begins with the noun nefesh {נֶ֚פֶשׁ | ne·feš} ‘soul, person’, establishing a generic individual. The relative pronoun asher {אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾă·šer} ‘who/that’ introduces the qualifying clause. The verb tiggabo {תִּגַּע־בּ֔וֹ | ṯi·ggaʿ·bô} ‘touches it’ uses the Qal imperfect to assign action. Vav-consecutive in vetamaah {וְטָמְאָ֖ה | wə·ṭam·āʾ·āh} ‘and is unclean’ links action to status. The prepositional phrase adhaarev {עַד־הָעָ֑רֶב | ʿad·hā·ʿā·rêḇ} ‘until the evening’ sets a temporal boundary. The negative prohibition welo yokal {וְלֹ֤א יֹאכַל֙ | wə·lōʾ yō·kā·l} ‘and not he shall eat’ governs minhakkodashim {מִן־הַקֳּדָשִׁ֔ים | min·hak·ḏā·šîm} ‘from the holy things’. The subordinating conjunction kiimrahats {כִּ֛י אִם־רָחַ֥ץ | kî·ʾim·ra·ḥaṭs} ‘for unless he has washed’ introduces the requirement, completed by the perfect verb and the phrases besaro {בְּשָׂר֖וֹ | be·ṣār·ô} ‘in his flesh’ and bamayim {בַּמָּֽיִם׃ | ba·mā·yim} ‘in the water’. Hebrew’s use of relative, vav-consecutive, temporal, and conditional constructions informs the English translation’s clause order and conjunction choices. |