Proverbs 12:9:6Prov.12.9.W6TAB
וַחֲסַר־לָֽחֶם׃
vakhasarlakhem
“and lacking bread”
- Transliteration
- va-kha-SAR-la-khem
- Extended
- vah-khah-SAR-lah-KHEHM
- IPA
- /wa.ħăˈsar.laːˈħɛm/
Meaning by language
- English
- and lacking bread
Hebrew · tap a syllable to hear it
Alphabet Analysis
| Vav | v as in vine; marks long ō / ū | |
| Patach | short 'ah' as in father | |
| Chet | ch — deep guttural, as in Scottish loch | |
| Hateph Patach | reduced 'ah' | |
| Samekh | s as in sit | |
| Patach | short 'ah' as in father | |
| Resh | r guttural, like the French r | |
| Lamed | l as in law | |
| Qamets | long 'ah' | |
| Chet | ch — deep guttural, as in Scottish loch | |
| Seghol | short 'eh' as in met | |
| Mem Sofit | final form of Mem — at word end |
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Now you try — trace the word:
The word
Word in context
- word
va-kha-SAR-la-khem
- clause
mim-te-kab-BED va-kha-SAR-la-khem
- sentence
TOV nik-le ve-E-ved LO mim-te-kab-BED va-kha-SAR-la-khem
Exegesis
The vav-prefix in vaḥaṣar {וַחֲסַר | vaḥaṣar} ‘and is lacking’ is combined by maqqef with lāḥem {לָחֶם | lāḥem} ‘bread’, creating a single expression that underscores absence of basic sustenance. This balanced antithetic parallelism, with matched participles and repeated conjunctions, is a hallmark of Hebrew proverbs. In English, the fronted predicate is mirrored by ‘Better is’ at the outset, participial subjects are rendered as descriptive noun phrases, and vaḥasar-lāḥem is translated ‘lacks bread’ to preserve the close semantic link.
Root and etymology
l-ḥ-mlamed–ḥet–mem
“bread; food”
In context — Proverbs 12:9
Better is one who is despised and has a servant than one who honors himself and lacks bread .
About this coordinate
Proverbs 12:9:6 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 6 of Proverbs 12:9, so the Hebrew word וַחֲסַר־לָֽחֶם׃ (vakhasarlakhem) can be cited, linked and studied at exactly this position rather than somewhere in the verse. In the Biblical Knowledge Coordinate System the same position is written Prov.12.9.W6, which extends further down to each syllable (Prov.12.9.W6.S1) and character.