| 30. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the adversative ki im {כִּי אִם | kî ʾim} introducing the exclusion “but except,” reversing the expected protasis of im {אִם | ʾim} ‘if.’ The Qal perfect nasati {נָשָׂאתִי | nā-sā-ʾtî} ‘I have lifted up’ marks the divine oath gesture, followed by the Piel infinitive le-sha-ken {לְשַׁכֵּן | lə-ša-kēn} ‘to settle’ which governs the direct object et-khem {אֶתְכֶם | ʾet-khem} ‘you’ and the locative bah {בָּהּ | bāh} ‘in it.’ The exception clause im-Kalev ben-Yephunneh and wi-ye-ho-shu-ʿa bin-nun employs the adversative to single out Caleb and Joshua as sole heirs. English renders the original conditional/apodosis and oath idiom through a negative declarative and carefully placed relative and infinitive constructions. |