| 7. Linguistic Exegesis The proverb opens with the existential clause yesh {יֵשׁ | yēš} ‘there is’, introducing an indefinite subject through the reflexive participle mita’asher {מִתְעַשֵּׁר | mit-‘aš-šēr} ‘making himself rich’. The adversative construction ve-ein kol {וְאֵין כֹּל | wə-’ên kōl} ‘and has nothing’ forms the first line of an antithetic parallel. The second line mirrors this pattern with the reflexive participle mitrosheish {מִתְרוֹשֵׁשׁ | mit-rō-šēš} ‘making himself poor’ followed by the affirmative phrase ve-hon rav {וְהוֹן רָב | wə-hōn rāḇ} ‘and abundant wealth’. The Hitpael stem conveys self-directed action, and the coordinating vav links the contrasting stichs, intensifying the rhetorical contrast between appearance and reality. |