| 2. Linguistic Exegesis The verse is structured as a bicolon introduced by gam {גַּם | gām} ‘also’, linking two parallel clauses. The first clause features a fronted negative nominal phrase bə-lōʾ da‛at nē-fesh {בְּלֹא־דַּעַת נֶפֶשׁ | bə-lōʾ da‛-at ne-fesh} ‘without knowledge the soul’, followed by the predicate lōʾ tōv {לֹא־טוֹב | lōʾ tôv} ‘is not good’. The second clause begins with the participial construction wə-ʼāṣ bə-raḡ-lay-yim {וְאָ֖ץ בְּרַגְלַיִם | wə-ʼāṣ bə-raḡ-lay-yim} ‘and hurries with feet’, employing the Qal participle to indicate ongoing haste, and concludes with the predicate ḥō-ṭēʾ {חוֹטֵא | ḥō-ṭēʾ} ‘sins’. This antithetic parallelism contrasts the detrimental effects of ignorance with those of rashness. In translation, the Hebrew nominal clause is rendered with an English existential structure to preserve emphasis, and the Hebrew participle is rendered in the progressive aspect to reflect continuous action. |