| 6. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the discourse marker veattah {וְעַתָּה | wə-ʿaṭ-ṭāh} ‘and now’, introducing a direct request. Imperatives lekhah {לְכָה־ | lə-ḵā-} ‘go’ and arah {אָֽרָה־ | ’ā-rāh} ‘curse’ combine with the entreaty particle na {נָּא | nā} ‘please’ to form a polite command. The accusative marker et {אֶת־ | ’et} specifies the object haam hazzeh {הָעָם הַזֶּה | hā-‘ām ha-z-zeh} ‘these people’. A causal clause introduced by ki {כִּי־ | kî} ‘because’ links atzum hu mimeni {עָצ֥וּם הוּא֙ מִמֶּ֔נִּי | ‘ā-ṣûm hū’ mim-mēn-nî} ‘they are stronger than me’. The modal particle ulai {אוּלַי | ʾū-lay} ‘perhaps’ leads into the cohortative nakkeh {נַכֶּה־ | na-ḵêh} ‘let us strike’ and the vav consecutive vaagarshennu {וַאֲגָרְשֶׁ֖נּוּ | wā-’ă-ḡār-šehn-nū} ‘I will drive him out’. A second ki clause, ki yadatti {כִּי יָדַעְתִּי | kî yā-ḏa-ttî} ‘for I know’, frames parallel relative constructions ashertevarekh…mevorakh {אֲשֶׁר־תְּבָרֵךְ מְבֹרָךְ | ’ă-šer-tə-ḇā-rē-ḵ mə-ḇō-rā-ḵ} ‘that whoever you bless is blessed’ and waasher taor yu’ar {וַאֲשֶׁר תָּאֹר יוּאָֽר | wā-’ă-šer tā-’ôr yū-’ār} ‘and whoever you curse is cursed’, creating a chiastic parallelism that underscores divine authority. |