| 17. Linguistic Exegesis The verse employs the vav-consecutive on velaqchu {וְלָֽקְחוּ | wə-lā-qə-ḥû} ‘and they shall take’ and venatan {וְנָתַן | wə-nā-ṭān} ‘and he shall put’ to sequence the ritual steps. The construct chain me‘afar serefath haḥaṭṭāṯ {מֵעֲפַר שְׂרֵפַת הַֽחַטָּ֑את | mē-ʿă-p̄ār sə-rê-phaṯ ha-ḥaṭ-ṭāṯ} precisely links ash to the burning of the sin-offering, emphasizing the sacrificial source of the purification material. The noun-adjective pair mayim ḥayyim {מַ֥יִם חַיִּ֖ים | ma-yim ḥa-y-yim} ‘living water’ identifies water qualified for cleansing, and the prepositional phrase el-keli {אֶל־כֶּֽלִי | ’el-ke-lî} ‘into a vessel’ directs its placement. English word order shifts to a clear, imperative-style instruction reflecting the stepwise ritual procedure. |