| 25. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the predicate nominal mokes {מוֹקֵשׁ | mō-qēš} ‘snare’ with adam {אָדָם | ʾā-dām} ‘a man’ as its subject. The Qal imperfect yala {יָלַע | yā-laʿ} ‘he swallows’ functions idiomatically for rash speech and takes kodesh {קֹדֶשׁ | qō-ḏěš} ‘holy thing’ as its object, producing the sense “to say rashly ‘It is holy.’” The conjunction plus preposition wə-ʾă-ḥar {וְאַחַר | wə-ʾă-ḥar} ‘and after’ introduces the Piel infinitive construct lə-băq-qer {לְבַקֵּר | lə-băq-qer} ‘to inquire,’ with nedarim {נְדָרִים | nĕ-ḏā-rîm} ‘vows’ as its object. This two-part structure highlights the peril of hastily declaring something sacred and delaying proper examination. |