| 15. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the existential particle yesh {יֵ֣שׁ | yēš} 'there is'. Gold zahav {זָ֭הָב | zāhāḇ} 'gold' and the compound wə-rāb-pənīnīm {וְרָב־פְּנִינִ֑ים | wə-rāḇ-pənīnīm} 'and an abundance of precious stones' serve as a merism emphasizing material wealth. The phrase u-kəlî yəqār {וּכְלִ֥י יְ֝קָ֗ר | u-kəlî yəqār} 'and a precious vessel' sets up a metaphor in contrast with sippəṯê-dəʿāṯ {שִׂפְתֵי־דָֽעַת | sippəṯê-dəʿāṯ} 'lips of knowledge'. The construct chain links the container metaphor to articulate speech. The adversative but implies that knowledge-guided speech surpasses tangible riches. The translation preserves the parallelism and metaphorical structure of the Hebrew. |