| 17. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with a hiphil participle yaphiach {יָפִ֣יחַ | yā-phī-aḥ} ‘breathes out’, establishing an ongoing, agentive action. Its direct object follows immediately: emunah {אֱמוּנָה | ʾĕ-mū-nāh} ‘faithfulness’, marking the positive quality exhibited by the subject. This is succeeded by the imperfect yagid {יַגִּ֣יד | yā-ggīḏ} ‘he declares’, which pairs with tsedeq {צֶ֑דֶק | ṣē-ḏēq} ‘righteousness’ as its object. The adversative conjunction ve’ed {וְעֵ֖ד | wə-ʿēd} ‘but witness’ shifts to the second clause, where sheqarim {שְׁקָרִ֣ים | še-qā-rîm} ‘falsehoods’ assumes the subject role, and mirmah {מִרְמָֽה | mir-māh} ‘deceit’ functions as the resulting action. The tightly parallel verb–object patterns exemplify antithetic parallelism common in wisdom literature. In translation, the combination of participial and imperfect forms is rendered through dynamic English equivalents to preserve both the ongoing nature of the positive action and the definitive character of the negative consequence, while maintaining the contrast introduced by the adversative conjunction. |