| 8. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the coordinated nouns nevelah {נְבֵלָה | nə-ḇê-lāh} ‘carcass’ and utreifah {טְרֵפָה | ū-ṭre-p̄āh} ‘torn animal’, linked by the conjunction vav to enumerate two sources of ritual impurity. The negative particle lo {לֹא | lōʾ} precedes the imperfect verb yochel {יֹאכַל | yō-ˀa-khal}, creating a continuous prohibition. The infinitive construct ləṭāme’āh {לְטָמְאָה | lə-ṭā-me-ʾāh} combined with the suffix -bāh {בָּהּ | bāh} forms the resultive prepositional phrase ləṭāme’āh-bāh {לְטָמְאָה־בָּהּ | lə-ṭā-me-ʾāh-bāh} ‘to become unclean by it’, indicating the prohibited outcome. The clause ʾani {אֲנִי | ˀă-nî} Yahweh {יְהוָה | Yə-hō-wāh} ‘I am the LORD’ serves as the authoritative divine self-identification that concludes the command. The placement of the prohibition immediately before the consequence underscores a cause–result relationship, and the concluding divine title reinforces covenantal authority over purity regulations. |