| 8. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with vehayah {וְהָיָ֣ה | wə-hā-yāh} ‘and it shall be’, establishing a prophetic future. The temporal expression bayom hahu {בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא | ba-yôm ha-hūʾ} ‘on that day’ demarcates the eschatological timeframe. In the main clause yetze'u mayim-chayim {יֵצְא֤וּ מַֽיִם־חַיִּים֙ | yēṣʾû ma-yim ḥay-yim} ‘living waters shall go out’, the imperfect verb conveys ongoing emergence, governing a construct noun phrase denoting life-giving streams. The source is specified by mirushalayim {מִיר֣וּשָׁלִַם | mî-rû-šā-layim} ‘from Jerusalem’. The distributive chetzyam … ve-chetzyam {חֶצְיָ֗ם … וְחֶצְיָ֖ם | ḥe-ṣā-yām … wə-ḥe-ṣā-yām} ‘half of them … and half of them’ distinguishes two directions: el-ha-yam ha-kadmoni {אֶל־הַיָּם֙ הַקַּדְמוֹנִ֔י | ʾel-hā-yām ha-qaḏ-mō-nî} ‘to the eastern sea’ and el-ha-yam ha-acharon {אֶל־הַיָּ֣ם הָאַחֲר֑וֹן | ʾel-hā-yām hā-ʾaḥ-ā-rôn} ‘to the western sea’. The adverbial pair ba-qayitz u-va-choref {בַּקַּ֥יִץ וּבָחֹ֖רֶף | ba-qə-yîṣ u-ḇā-ḥō-rep̄} ‘in summer and in winter’ indicates perennial flow, and yihyeh {יִֽהְיֶֽה | yi-hyêh} ‘it shall be’ closes the prophecy. |