| 17. Linguistic Exegesis The adversative particle akh {אַךְ | ’aḵ} ‘however’ introduces a contrast with preceding obligations. Three coordinated construct phrases—b’khor-shor {בְּכוֹר־שׁוֹר | bə-khôr-šôr}, b’khor-kesev {בְּכוֹר כֶּשֶׂב | bə-khôr ke-sev}, b’khor-ʿez {בְּכוֹר עֵז | bə-khôr ʿēz}—specify the firstborn of each animal. The imperfect verb tifdeh {תִפְדֶּה | tif-deh} ‘you shall redeem’ is negated by lo {לֹא | lō}, yielding the verbless clause qodesh hem {קֹדֶשׁ הֵם | qō-deš hēm} that affirms their sanctity. The direct object marker et {אֶת | ’ēt} with damam {דָּמָם | dā-mām} introduces the blood for the Qal imperfect tizrok {תִּזְרֹק | tiz-rōq} ‘dash or sprinkle’ upon the altar (ʿal hamizbeach {עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּחַ | ʿal ham-miz-bē-aḥ}). The conjunction v’et {וְאֶת | wə-’ēt} links khelbam {חֶלְבָּם | ḥel-bām} ‘their fat,’ which the Hiphil imperfect taqtir {תַּקְטִיר | taq-tîr} ‘burn as incense’ consumes as an isheh {אִשֶּׁה | ’iš-šê} fire-offering, producing aroma (l’reiach nichoach {לְרֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ | lə-rê-aḥ nī-ḥō-aḥ}). The prepositional phrase la-Yahweh {לַיהוָה | la-Yə-hō-wāh} designates Yahweh as the divine recipient of the cultic aroma. |