| 14. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the construct chain khamat melekh {חֲמַת־מֶ֥לֶךְ | ḥă-mat mê-lêḵ} ‘wrath of a king,’ setting a vivid metaphor. This is followed by malakhei mawet {מַלְאֲכֵי־מָוֶת | mal-ʼă-ḵê mā-weṯ} ‘messengers of death,’ amplifying the peril of royal anger. The conjunction ve {וְ | və} ‘and’ introduces a contrast with ish khakham {אִישׁ חָכָם | ʼîš ḥā-khâm} ‘wise man.’ The Piel imperfect yekhapprenah {יְכַפְּרֶנָּה | yĕ-kap-pĕ-rĕ-nāh} ‘will appease it’ conveys proactive mitigation. Hebrew’s verb-final placement creates balanced parallelism between destructive force and wise restraint. |