ואף גם זאת. לשון צחות והאחד יספיק וכל המקרא כך וכן הרק אך במשה המבלי אין קברים: AND YET FOR ALL THAT. Ve-af gam zot (and yet for all that) is an elegant phrase.138It is poetic. Ve-af gam zot literally means, and even, even this. Scripture could have read ve-af zot or ve-gam zot. One word would have sufficed. We find this in all of Scripture.139Scripture employs similar phrases in many other places. Compare, ha-rak akh be-mosheh (hath indeed…only with Moses) (Num. 12:2);140Scripture could have read ha-rak be-mosheh or ha-akh be-mosheh. ha-mibbeli en kevarim141Scripture could have read ha-mibbeli kevarim or ha-in kevarim. (because there were no graves) (Ex. 14:11).
לא מאסתים לכלותם. רק ליסרם עד שיכנע לבם: I WILL NOT REJECT THEM…TO DESTROY THEM UTTERLY. But I will punish them until their hearts are humbled.
געלתים. סרתי מהם או בחלה נפשי מהם: NEITHER WILL I ABHOR THEM. Ge’altim (will I abhor them) means I did not turn away from them.142I did not treat them as an abhorrent thing. Or, it means I did not abhor them.
להפר בריתי. שנשבעתי להם ואף אם הם הפרו את בריתי כי כן כתוב. אני לא אפר בריתי אתם כי אלהים אני: TO BREAK MY COVENANT. Which I made with them by oath. Even though, as Scripture states, they broke My covenant, I will not break My covenant with them, for I am the Lord.