| 1. Linguistic Exegesis The opening indirect object le’adam {לְאָדָם | lə-ʾā-ḏām} foregrounds human initiative in inward deliberation. The construct ma‘arkhei-lev {מַֽעַרְכֵי־לֵ֑ב | ma·ʿar·qê·ley·lev} pairs human intention with heart imagery. The conjunctive vav in u-me-yah-WEH {וּ֝מֵיְהוָ֗ה | û-me·yə-hô-vāh} pivots to divine sovereignty, introducing the source of ma‘anêh {מַעֲנֵ֥ה | ma·ʿă·nêh} “answer” tied to lāšôn {לָשֽׁוֹן | lā·šôn} “tongue.” This parallelism contrasts human planning with divine provision, rendered in English as subject-verb-object while retaining the proverb’s chiastic structure. |