| 18. Linguistic Exegesis The Hebrew verse exhibits a chiastic antithesis (A–B, B′–A′) where the noun phrase ish chemah {אִישׁ חֵמָה | ʾîš ḥē-māh} ‘man of wrath’ is paralleled by the noun phrase erekh appayim {אֶ֥רֶךְ אַ֝פַּ֗יִם | ʾereḵ ʾap-pā-yim} ‘slow to anger.’ The verbs yegareh {יְגָרֶ֣ה | yə-gā-reh} ‘he stirs up’ and yashqit {יַשְׁקִ֥יט | yaš-qîṭ} ‘he causes to be quiet’ create the opposing actions of escalation and de-escalation. Each verb governs its direct object—madon {מָדוֹן | mā-ḏōn} ‘strife’ and riv {רִֽיב | rîḇ} ‘quarrel’—mirroring the chiastic structure. The adversative conjunction wə- (and/but) prefixed to erekh appayim signals the contrast, rendered as “but” in English to highlight the reversal of behavior. The idiom erekh appayim ‘slow to anger’ evokes restrained breath as a metaphor for patience, guiding the choice of “patient” in the dynamic version. |