| 32. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with ve‘atta {וְעַתָּה | wə-ʿăṯ-ṭāh} ‘and now’, signaling a shift in address to banim {בָּנִים | bā-nîm} ‘children’ in the vocative. The imperative clause shim‘u-lî {שִׁמְעוּ־לִ֑י | šim‘ū-lî} ‘listen to me’ commands attention, while the coordinating particle in ve-’ashrei {וְאַשְׁרֵי | wə-’ăš-rē} ‘and blessed’ introduces a result clause. In that clause derakhai {דְּרָכַי | də-rā-ḵāy} ‘my ways’ acts as the object of the verb yishmeru {יִשְׁמְרוּ | yiš-mə-rū} ‘they keep’. The formal version preserves the Hebrew word order inversion (“and blessed are those…”), whereas the dynamic version uses a causal “for” to link obedience and blessing. Parallelism between the command and the blessing highlights the theme that obedience leads to well-being. |