| 10. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with ani {אֲנִי | ʾă-nî} “I” immediately followed by Yahweh {יְהוָה | Yə-hō-wāh} “LORD,” emphasizing divine agency. Two Qal participles, choker {חֹקֵר | ḥō-qēr} “searching” and bochen {בֹּחֵן | bō-ḥēn} “examining,” describe continuous action directed at lev {לֵב | lēḇ} “heart” and kelayot {כְּלָיוֹת | kə-lā-yōṯ} “innermost being.” The infinitive construct ve-latēt {וְלָתֵת | wə-lā-ṭēṯ} conveys purpose. A chiastic parallelism arises in the prepositional phrases ki-derachav {כִּדְרָכָיו | ki-dra-ḵāw} “according to his ways” and ki-pri {כִּפְרִ֖י | ki-prî} “according to the fruit” of ma‘alalav {מַעֲלָלָיו | ma-ʿă-lā-lāw} “his deeds,” reinforcing divine justice and accountability. |