| 2. Linguistic Exegesis The proverb establishes an antithetical parallelism with two participial phrases. It opens with holekh beyashro {הוֹלֵךְ בְּיָשְׁרוֹ | hô-lēḵ bə-yā-šer} ‘one walking in integrity,’ serving as the subject, followed by the predicate yarei Yahweh {יְרֵא יְהוָה | yə-rēʾ Yəhōwāh} ‘fears the LORD.’ The adversative conjunction wə-nə-LOZ derakhav {וּנְלֹז דְּרָכָיו | wə-nə-lōz də-rā-ḵāw} ‘and one twisting his ways’ signals the contrast, and the final participle bozehu {בּוֹזֵהוּ | bō-zē-hū} ‘despises him’ returns the reference to the divine. The chiastic structure—uprightness versus crookedness—along with repeated participial subjects and corresponding predicates, underscores the moral dichotomy. |