| 2. Linguistic Exegesis The verse is a compact poetic line built around two similes introduced by the comparative kaf: ke-tsits {כְּצִ֣יץ | kə-ṣîṣ} ‘like a flower’ and ka-tsel {כַ֝צֵּ֗ל | kaṣ-ṣēl} ‘like a shadow’. The initial perfect yatsa {יָ֭צָא | yāṣāʾ} ‘he came out’ presents human life as momentary emergence, followed by a rapid verbal chain with waw consecutive (va-yimmal {וַיִּמָּ֑ל | way-yim-māl} ‘and he withered’, va-yivrach {וַיִּבְרַ֥ח | way-yiv-raḥ} ‘and he fled’) that drives the line forward toward disappearance. The final clause ve-lo yaamod {וְלֹ֣א יַעֲמֽוֹד | wə-lōʾ yaʿămōḏ} ‘and he does not stand/endure’ uses negation plus imperfect to state the ongoing, general truth: what “comes out” does not remain. The paired images (flower/shadow) form parallelism that intensifies the theme of transience by combining fading (withered) with insubstantiality (shadow). |