| 20. Linguistic Exegesis The verse presents two parallel participial-result clauses. The participle maskil {מַשְׂכִּ֣יל | maš-kîl} ‘one who acts prudently’ initiates the protasis, followed by the prepositional phrase al-davar {עַל־דָּבָר | ʿal-də-vār} ‘concerning a matter,’ setting a practical context. The imperfect verb yimtsa {יִמְצָא | yim-ṣāʾ} ‘he will find’ governs the direct object tov {ט֑וֹב | tōv} ‘good.’ The conjunction vav introduces a parallel clause beginning with the participle ū-bōṭēaḥ {וּבוֹטֵ֖חַ | ū-bō-ṭē-aḥ} ‘one who trusts,’ combined with the prepositional phrase ba-yəhōwāh {בַּיהוָ֣ה | ba-yə-hō-wāh} ‘in the LORD.’ The noun ashrayav {אַשְׁרָֽיו | ʾaš-rā-yāw} ‘blessedness’ functions as a verbless predicate, implying ‘is.’ This chiastic structure highlights prudence and trust as reciprocal paths leading to divine blessing. |