| 2. Linguistic Exegesis The verse employs antithetical parallelism through two matched clauses. The first clause begins with the construct phrase pri {פְּרִ֣י | pə-rî} ‘fruit’ modifying pî-ʾîš {פִי־אִ֭ישׁ | pî-ʾîš} ‘mouth of a man’, governed by the imperfect yokhal {יֹ֣אכַל | yō-ḵal} ‘eats’, expressing a general truth about speech’s beneficial outcome. The coordinating conjunction ve {וְ | wə} introduces nefeš {נֶ֖פֶשׁ | ne-feš} ‘soul’, which with the participle bogedim {בֹּגְדִים | bō-ge-dîm} ‘treacherous ones’ forms the subject of the second clause, with khamas {חָמָֽס | ḥā-mās} ‘violence’ as object. The parallel structure contrasts the appetite for good with the desire for violence. |