| 23. Linguistic Exegesis The verse is structured as a two-part synonymous parallelism, with simchah {שִׂמְחָה | śim-ḥāh} ‘joy’ as the subject of the first clause, followed by the indirect object la’ish {לָאִישׁ | lā-ʾīš} ‘to a man’ and the instrumental-prepositional phrase bema’aneh-piv {בְּמַעֲנֵה־פִיו | bə-ma-ʿa-nê-pîw} ‘in the answer of his mouth’. The conjunction vedavar {וְדָבָר | wə-ḏā-wār} ‘and a word’ introduces the second clause, paralleled by the prepositional phrase be’ito {בְּעִתּוֹ | bə-ʿit-tô} ‘in its time’. Hebrew omits a finite verb in both clauses, replacing it with the exclamatory nominal phrase mahtov {מַה־טּוֹב | mah-ṭōḇ} ‘how good’, which English renders with supplied verbs (‘comes’, ‘feels’) and an exclamatory structure. This parallel construct emphasizes that both the content of speech and its timing produce delight. |