| 11. Linguistic Exegesis The verse features two parallel personified nouns, mezimmah {מְ֭זִמָּה | mə·zimmāh} ‘discretion’ and tevunah {תְּבוּנָ֥ה | tə·vūnāh} ‘understanding,’ each with an imperfect verb: tishmor {תִּשְׁמֹ֥ר | tiš·môr} ‘she will guard’ and tintzrekha {תִּנְצְֽרֶכָּה | tin·ṣrə·ḵā} ‘she will guard you.’ The conjunction vav linking the two clauses is implicit, creating concise parallelism. The prepositional phrase ʿā·leḵā {עָלֶ֗יךָ | ʿā·leḵā} ‘over you’ precedes the second verb to highlight the protective benefit toward the recipient. |