| 24. Linguistic Exegesis Proverbs 19:24 presents two balanced clauses. The first clause begins with the verb taman {טָ֘מַ֤ן | ṭā-man} ‘he buries’, followed by its subject atsel {עָצֵ֣ל | ʿā-ṣēl} ‘sluggard’ and the object yado {יָ֭דוֹ | yā-dō} ‘his hand’ in the prepositional phrase ba-tsallachat {בַּצַּלָּ֑חַת | ba-ṣal-lā-ḥat} ‘in the dish’. The second clause opens with the adversative gam {גַּם־ | gam} ‘even’, leading to el pihu {אֶל־פִּ֝֗יהוּ | ʾel pî-hû} ‘to his mouth’, then the negative particle lo {לֹ֣א | lōʾ} ‘not’ and the Hiphil imperfect yeshivenna {יְשִׁיבֶֽנָּה | yə-šî-wen-nā} ‘he returns it’. This chiastic structure highlights the sluggard’s extreme inaction. The formal reconstruction preserves Hebrew clause order to mirror this emphasis, while the dynamic version adapts the sequence for smoother English flow. |