| 5. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with ve’ish {וְאִישׁ | wə’îš}, introducing “and a man” as the subject. The conditional protasis kî plus the imperfect verb yihyeh {כִּי־יִהְיֶ֣ה | kî-yih-yêh} yields “if he is.” The adjective ṣaddiq {צַדִּיק | ṣad-dîq} assigns moral quality. The vav-consecutive perfect ve’asah {וְעָשָׂה | wə-’ă-śâh} then shifts to the action “and he does.” The coordinated terms mišpāṭ {מִשְׁפָּט | miš-pā-ṭ} and uṣədāqāh {וּצְדָקָה | û-ṣə-dā-qāh} form synonymous parallelism, pairing communal justice with personal righteousness. |