| 27. Linguistic Exegesis The verse is a causal explanation introduced by ki {כִּי | kî} ‘because/for’, linking this vivid bodily description to the prior portrayal of the wicked. The first clause presents a completed condition: “he covered his face with his fat,” where the imagery functions metaphorically for self-indulgence and hardened arrogance, not merely physical description. The prepositional phrase bechelbo {בְּחֶלְבּוֹ | bəḥelbô} ‘with his fat’ supplies the means by which the “covering” occurs, intensifying the picture of being enveloped. The second clause advances the depiction with a subsequent action, “and he made thickness,” focusing on the result of excess: pima {פִּימָה | pîmāh} evokes a mass or folds of fat, while alei-kasel {עֲלֵי־כָסֶל | ʿălê-kāsel} specifies the bodily location (flanks/waist area). The parallel clauses build a single portrait through concrete, almost grotesque, physical imagery; English retains the two-step progression (covering, then forming) to preserve the accumulating rhetorical force. A major lexical question is pima {פִּימָה | pîmāh}, which can be rendered as “folds,” “thickness,” or “fatty bulges”; “thickness/bulges” best matches the paired location phrase and the verse’s emphasis on excess. |