| 7. Linguistic Exegesis The verse employs a parallel structure contrasting active sharing and passive inaction. The construct chain of siftei {שִׂפְתֵי | ṣîp̄-tê} ‘lips’ with chakamim {חֲכָמִים | ḥa-ḵa-mîm} ‘wise persons’ serves as the first subject, followed by yezarû {יְזָרוּ | yᵉ-zā-rû} ‘scatter’, expressing habitual dissemination directed toward daʿat {דָּעַת | dā-ʿaṯ} ‘knowledge’. The adversative vav together with lo-khen {לֹא-כֵן | lō-ḵên} ‘not so’ introduces the contrasting clause, where ve-lev {וְלֵב | wə-lêḇ} ‘the heart’ coupled with kesilim {כְּסִילִים | kᵉ-sî-lîm} ‘fools’ forms a subject that remains inactive. This chiastic parallelism underscores the ethical dimension of speech in Proverbs. The English renditions retain the Hebrew construct order and reflect the idiomatic force of lo-khen through equivalent phrasing. |