| 6. Linguistic Exegesis tsedaqah {צְדָקָה | ṣə-ḏā-qāh} ‘righteousness’ serves as the subject in the first clause, followed by the Qal imperfect titzor {תִּצֹּר | tîṣ-ṣôr} ‘she guards’ and the construct tam derekh {תָּם־דָּרֶךְ | ṯām dā-reḵ} ‘blameless way’ as object. The conjunction ve {וְ | wə} functions adversatively, introducing rishah {רִשְׁעָה | ri-šā‘} ‘wickedness’ as subject, the Piel imperfect tesallel {תְּסַלֵּ֥ף | tə-sal-lêp} ‘she perverts’ indicating intensive action, and chattaat {חַטָּאת | ḥat-tā‘} ‘sinner’ as object. This antithetical parallelism personifies moral forces, and the Piel stem’s intensive sense, rendered as ‘overthrows’, underscores wickedness’s destructive outcome. |