| 5. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the vav-consecutive ve'amar {וְאָמַר | wə-ʾā-mar} ‘and he shall say,’ which frames a declaration. The negation lo {לֹא | lōʾ} ‘not’ preceding the predicate navi {נָבִיא | nā-ḇîʾ} ‘prophet’ highlights denial. The compound nominal ish-oved-adamah {אִישׁ-עֹבֵד אֲדָמָה | ʾîš-ʿō-ḇēḏ ʾă-ḏā-māh} ‘man working the soil’ merges personal and occupational identity. The conjunction ki {כִּי | kî} ‘for’ introduces a causal clause, where adam {אָדָם | ʾā-ḏām} ‘man’ and the Hiphil perfect hiqnani {הִקְנַנִי | hiq-nā-nî} ‘has acquired me’ express possession, and the prepositional phrase minneurai {מִנְּעוּרָי | min-nə-ʿû-rāy} ‘from my youth’ situates the temporal frame. |