| 19. Linguistic Exegesis The proverb opens with ken {כֵּן | kên} ‘thus’, marking a summary judgment. Arkhot {אָרְחוֹת | ʾarḥôt} ‘paths/ways’ appears in construct with kol botzea {כָּל־בֹּצֵעַ | kol-bōṣēaʿ} ‘all who gain’, forming a unit that identifies those who pursue unethical profit. The noun batsa {בָּצַע | bōṣaʿ} ‘unjust gain’ functions as the object of the participle botzea, and et {אֶת | ʾet} ‘direct object marker’ introduces nefesh {נֶפֶשׁ | nepeš} ‘soul/life’ as the object of the concluding verb yikkach {יִקָּח | yiqqāḥ} ‘it takes’. The prepositional construct beʿālāv {בְּעָלָיו | bəʿālāv} ‘of its owner’ ties the soul back to the pursuer. The verb-final placement of yikkach underscores the inevitability of loss resulting from greedy pursuit, and the construct chain highlights the direct relationship between unethical gain and self-destruction. |