| 16. Linguistic Exegesis The verse employs synthetic parallelism through two participles, oshek {עֹ֣שֵֽׁק | ʿôšēq} ‘one who oppresses’ and nōṯēn {נֹתֵ֥ן | nōṯēn} ‘one who gives’, each followed by a purpose infinitive. The infinitive of purpose le-harbōt {לְהַרְבּ֣וֹת | lə-harbōṯ} ‘to increase’ describes the oppressor’s motive, reinforced by lo {ל֑וֹ | lō} ‘for himself’. The adversative particle ’akh {אַךְ | ’ăḵ} ‘surely’ then introduces the result infinitive le-maḥsôr {לְמַחְסֽוֹר | lə-maḥsôr} ‘to lack’. The lack of an explicit conjunction before nōṯēn implies that both actions lead equally to the same outcome. In translating to English, participles become relative clauses or gerunds, infinitives of purpose render as “to” phrases, and the adversative ’akh is rendered as “surely” to convey certainty. |