| 38. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the Piel imperative dabber {דַּבֵּ֞ר | dab-bēr} ‘speak’, directing Moses, followed by the prepositional phrase el-benei yisrael {אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל | ʾel-bə-nê yiś-rā-ʾēl} ‘to the sons of Israel’, marking the audience. The vav-consecutive perfect veamarta {וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ | wə-ʾāmăr-tā} ‘and you shall say’ introduces the content clause. The directive begins with veasu {וְעָשׂ֨וּ | wə-ʿā-sû} ‘and they shall make’, taking tsitit {צִיצִ֛ת | tsit-tsīt} ‘tassel’ as its object. The locative phrase al kanfei bigdeihem {עַל־כַּנְפֵי בִגְדֵיהֶ֖ם | ʿal-ka-n-pê big-dê-hem} ‘on the corners of their garments’ uses the construct chain kan-pê big-dê-hem rendered as ‘corners of their garments’. The temporal modifier ledorotam {לְדֹרֹתָ֑ם | lə-dō-rō-tām} ‘for their generations’ denotes perpetuity. The subsequent vav-consecutive perfect venatnu {וְנָתְנ֛וּ | wə-nāṯ-nû} ‘and they shall put’ adds pe-til techelet {פְּתִ֥יל תְּכֵֽלֶת | pe-tîl tə-ḵē-let} ‘cord of blue’ upon the tassel. The coordination with vav underscores the inseparable actions of making and adorning the tassels, and Hebrew construct chains and vav-consecutive forms are rendered through coordinated clauses and prepositional modifiers to preserve sequence and emphasis. |