| 5. Linguistic Exegesis The opening formula koh {כֹּה | kō} ‘thus’ introduces the prophetic declaration, followed by amar {אָמַר | ʾāmar} ‘he said’, which assigns Yahweh {יְהוָה | Yəhōwāh} as speaker. The participial predicate arur {אָרוּר | ʾārūr} ‘cursed’ modifies the subject ha-gever {הַגֶּבֶר | ha-gěber} ‘the man’. A relative clause with asher {אֲשֶׁר | ʾăšer} ‘who’ contains two parallel verb phrases: yivtach {יִבְטַח | yibṭaḥ} ‘trusts’ + ba-adam {בָּאָדָם | bā-ʾādam} ‘in man’; and ve-sam {וְשָׂם | wə-sām} ‘and makes’ + basar {בָּשָׂר | bāsār} ‘flesh’ + zeroa'o {זְרֹע֑וֹ | zrōʿô} ‘his arm’, an idiom for human strength. The concluding clause uses the preposition min {מִן | min} in u-min-Yahweh {וּמִן־יְהוָה | û-min-yəhōwāh} ‘and from the LORD’, with the imperfect yasur {יָסוּר | yāsūr} ‘turns away’ governing libbo {לִבּוֹ | libbô} ‘his heart’, contrasting human dependence with divine loyalty and forming a chiastic structure. |