Perpetual Backsliding: Interrogatives, Participles, and the Syntax of Resistance
מַדּ֨וּעַ שֹׁובְבָ֜ה הָעָ֥ם הַזֶּ֛ה יְרוּשָׁלִַ֖ם מְשֻׁבָ֣ה נִצַּ֑חַת הֶחֱזִ֨יקוּ֙ בַּתַּרְמִ֔ית מֵאֲנ֖וּ לָשֽׁוּב׃ (Jeremiah 8:5) Why has this people turned away, Yerushalayim, in perpetual backsliding? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return. A Grammar of Grief Jeremiah 8:5 presents a divine lament couched in a rhetorical question. The verse is steeped in emotion, but its syntax…