| 25. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with vezeh {וְזֶה | wə-zé} ‘and this’, marking an antithetic continuation. The verb yamut {יָמוּת | yā-mût} ‘he dies’ is a Qal imperfect conveying a completed action. The construct benephesh marah {בְּנֶפֶשׁ מָרָה | bə-né-pheš mā-râ} ‘in a bitter soul’ functions adverbially to describe inward despair at death. The conjunction-negation ve-loʾ akhal {וְלֹא־אָכַל | wə-lō-ʾā-kal} ‘and not he ate’ introduces the parallel clause, with akhal used idiomatically for experiencing. The prepositional phrase ba-tovah {בַּטּוּבָֽה | ba-ṭū-ḇāh} ‘in the good’ specifies the sphere of enjoyment that was never realized. This antithetic parallelism between inward bitterness and absent enjoyment heightens the emotional contrast. |