| 20. Linguistic Exegesis The verse employs a balanced construct parallelism that ties speech to physical satisfaction. The prepositional phrase mipri {מִפְּרִ֣י | mîn-pə-rî} ‘from the fruit’ immediately merges with the construct chain pi-ish {פִי־אִ֭ישׁ | pî-îš} ‘of a man’s mouth’ to establish cause, realized in the imperfect verb tishba {תִּשְׂבַּ֣ע | tis̆ba‘} ‘will be satisfied’ governing betno {בִּטְנ֑וֹ | biṭnô} ‘his belly.’ The second half mirrors this structure through tevuat {תְּבוּאַ֖ת | təḇû’āṯ} ‘the yield’ linked to sefatav {שְׂפָתָ֣יו | səfātāyw} ‘of his lips’ and the imperfect yisba {יִשְׂבָּֽע | yiśba‘} ‘will be filled.’ This synthetic parallelism, underscored by the shift from the feminine tishba with the feminine noun betno to the masculine yisba with the implied subject, highlights how the construct chains and imperfect verb pairs reinforce the wisdom theme that words produce tangible satisfaction. |