| 30. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative opens with sequential vav-consecutive verbs, vetihartim {וְטִֽהַרְתִּ֖ים | vê-ti-ḥär-tîm} ‘and I purified them’ followed by vaa’amidah {וָאַעֲמִ֧ידָה | wā-ʾă-ʿămî-dāh} ‘and I appointed’. The idiom min-kol nechar {מִכָּל־נֵכָר | min-kol nē-ḵār} ‘from all foreignness’ conveys total removal of what is alien. The construct mishmarot la-kohanim ve-la-leviyim {מִשְׁמָרוֹת לַכֹּהֲנִים וְלַלְוִיִּים | miš-mār-ōṯ la-kkō-hă-nîm və-lă-lə-wî-yîm} parallels temple assignments to both groups. The distributive ish bimelachto {אִישׁ בִּמְלַאכְתּוֹ | ʾîš bi-məl-ʾā-ḵōw} ‘each man in his work’ distributes duties among individuals, rendered as a distributive phrase in English. |