בְּפִ֖י

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 בְּפִ֖י

   be-FI

   in the mouth of
2. clause🔊 וַיֹּ֗אמֶר אֵצֵא֙ וְהָיִ֙יתִי֙ לְר֣וּחַ שֶׁ֔קֶר בְּפִ֖י כָּל־נְבִיאָ֑יו

   va-YO-mer e-TSE ve-ha-YI-TI le-RU-akh SHE-ker be-FI kal-ne-vi-AI-v

   and he said I will go out and I will be as a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of all his prophets
3. sentence🔊 וַיֹּ֗אמֶר אֵצֵא֙ וְהָיִ֙יתִי֙ לְר֣וּחַ שֶׁ֔קֶר בְּפִ֖י כָּל־נְבִיאָ֑יו וַיֹּ֗אמֶר תְּפַתֶּה֙ וְגַם־תּוּכָ֔ל צֵ֖א וַעֲשֵׂה־כֵֽן׃

   va-YO-mer e-TSE ve-ha-YI-TI le-RU-akh SHE-ker be-FI kal-ne-vi-AI-v va-YO-mer te-fa-TE ve-gam-tu-KHAL TSE va-a-SE-KHEN

   and he said I will go out and I will be as a spirit of falsehood in the mouth of all his prophets and he said you will entice and also you will be able go out and do thus

Exegesis

In the first speech the compound volitional structure etze {אֵצֵא | ’ēṣēʼ} ‘I will go out’ + vehayiti {וְהָיִיתִי | wəhāyîtî} ‘I will be’ expresses transformation into the predicate noun ruach sheker {רוּחַ שֶׁקֶר | rūaḥ šēqer} ‘deceiving spirit,’ with befi {בְּפִי | bə-pî} marking the sphere ‘in the mouth,’ and kol-neviav {כָּל־נְבִיאָ֑יו | kol-nəwē’āyw} ‘of all his prophets’ in construct with pronominal suffix. In the second speech the subject shifts to YHWH, indicated by the second vayomer, authorizing the deception.