| 16. Linguistic Exegesis The verse presents an antithetic parallelism with two nominal clauses. Each clause begins with the participle shomer {שֹׁמֵ֣ר | šōmēr} ‘one who keeps’ and bozeh {בּוֹזֵ֖ה | bō·zēh} ‘one who despises’, followed by their objects mitzvah {מִ֭צְוָה | miṣ·wāh} ‘commandment’ and derakhav {דְרָכָ֣יו | də·rā·ḵāw} ‘his ways’. The first clause’s predicate shomer nap̄shô {שֹׁמֵ֣ר נַפְשׁ֑וֹ | šōmēr nap̄·šōw} ‘keeps his soul’ conveys self-preservation, while the second clause’s predicate yāmut {יָמוּת׃ | yā·mūṯ} ‘he will die’ expresses the result without a conjunction. The structure highlights cause–effect logic, contrasting obedience with preservation and contempt with death, and the participles function as verbal nouns in a succinct, direct style. |