| 23. Linguistic Exegesis shomer {שֹׁמֵר | šō-mêr} ‘one who guards’ begins a parallel participle structure attached to piv {פִּיו | pî-w} ‘his mouth’ and ule-shono {וּלְשׁוֹנ֑וֹ | ū-le-šō-nô} ‘his tongue.’ The second shomer introduces the consequence clause, where guarding speech leads to guarding nafsho {נַפְשֽׁוֹ | nap̄-šō-w} ‘his soul’ from mitzarot {מִצָּרוֹת | mi-ṣṣā-rō-ṯ} ‘troubles.’ This syntactic parallelism underscores the cause-and-effect relationship between verbal restraint and personal protection. |