| 11. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the participle hanoge’a {הַנֹּגֵעַ | hānōgēʿāʾ} ‘the one who touches’, functioning as the subject of a general legal statement. The prepositional phrase bemet {בְּמֵת | bə·mēt} ‘with a corpse’ specifies the object, followed by the construct chain lkol-nefesh adam {לְכָל־נֶפֶשׁ אָדָם | lə·kōl ne·fēš ʾā·ḏām} ‘of any person’, broadening the prohibition. The vav-consecutive in vetame {וְטָמֵא | wə·ṭāmēʾ} ‘and he shall be unclean’ introduces the result clause, where the Qal perfect with vav-consecutive expresses a future-predictive legal effect. Finally the numeral phrase shivat yamim {שִׁבְעַת יָמִים | šibʿat yāmîm} ‘seven days’ serves as a temporal accusative, defining the duration of impurity. |