| 16. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the universal quantifier ve-khol {וְכֹל | wə-ḵōl} ‘and all/anyone’ followed by the relative pronoun asher {אֲשֶׁר | ʾă-šer} ‘who’ governing the verb yigga {יִגַּע | yiqqāʿ} ‘touches’. The spatial phrase al-penei hasadeh {עַל־פְּנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה | ʿal-pə-nê ha-šā-deh} ‘on the surface of the field’ defines the locus of action. The construct chain bachalal-cheḇ {בַּחֲלַל־חֶרֶב | ba-ḥă-lal-ḥerēḇ} ‘one slain by the sword’ notes the instrumentality of death. A series of disjunctive clauses introduced by o {אוֹ | ʾō} ‘or’ presents alternatives: contact with met {מֵת | mēt} ‘dead body’, etsem {עֶצֶם | ʿe-ṣem} ‘bone’, adam {אָדָם | ʾā-dām} ‘person’, or kaver {קָבֶר | qā-ḇer} ‘grave’. The subsequent verb yitma {יִטְמָא | yiṯ-māʾ} ‘becomes unclean’ specifies the ritual outcome, and the temporal phrase shivat yamim {שִׁבְעַת יָמִים | šiḇ-ʿat yā-mîm} ‘seven days’ marks the period of impurity. The translation preserves the Hebrew legal form by reflecting the construct structures, the disjunctive coordination, and the precise temporal specification. |