| 26. Linguistic Exegesis The verse comprises two clauses joined by the conjunction ki {כִּי | kî} ‘for/because.’ In the first clause, nefesh {נֶ֣פֶשׁ | nepeš} ‘inner being’ functions as subject in construct with amel {עָ֭מֵל | ʿāmēl} ‘laborer,’ followed by the Qal perfect verb amlah {עָ֣מְלָה | ʿāməlāh} ‘labors’ agreeing in third person feminine singular. The beneficiary lo {לּ֑וֹ | lô} ‘for him’ specifies the recipient of the labor. The second clause begins with the conjunction-verb sequence ki-akhaph {כִּֽי־אָכַ֖ף | kî-ʾāḵāp̱} ‘for he has pressed,’ taking pihu {פִּֽיהוּ | pîhû} ‘mouth’ as agent and alav {עָלָ֣יו | ʿălāv} ‘upon him’ as its complement. The metaphorical use of ‘mouth’ signifies appetite and exhortation, establishing a causal link between desire and toil. The formal text preserves this causal structure, and the dynamic text renders it idiomatically. |