| 15. Linguistic Exegesis The verse unfolds through a series of paratactic clauses and vivid imagery. The verb yavesh {יָבֵשׁ | yā-vēš} ‘is dried up’ in the Qal perfect denotes a completed state of exhaustion, followed by the simile kacheres {כַּחֶרֶשׂ | ka-ḥe-res} ‘like a potsherd’ to evoke brittle decay. The noun kochi {כֹּחִי | ko-ḥî} ‘my strength’ personalizes the speaker’s collapse. The conjunction uleshoni {וּלְשׁוֹנִי | û-lə-šō-nî} ‘and my tongue’ introduces the parallel Pual participle mudbak {מֻדְבָּק | muḏ-bā-q} ‘is stuck’, illustrating passive adherence to malkochai {מַלְקוֹחָי | mal-qō-ḥāy} ‘my jaws’. The phrase vela‘afar-mavet {וְלַעֲפַר־מָוֶת | və-la-ʿa-par mā-vēṯ} ‘and to the dust of death’ provides the spatial setting for the imperfect teshifteni {תְּשִׁפְתֵנִי | tə-šip-tê-nî} ‘You place me’, underscoring divine agency in consigning the sufferer to mortality’s realm. |