| 13. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the verb amar {אָמַר | ʾāmar} ‘he said,’ introducing direct speech. This is followed by the subject atsel {עָצֵל | ʿāṣēl} ‘sluggard,’ indicating a habitual idler. The object ari {אֲרִי | ʾări} ‘lion’ presents the imagined threat. A meristic sequence of spatial clauses—bachutz {בַּחוּץ | ba-ḥûṣ} ‘outside in the street’ and the parallel betoch rechovot {בְּתוֹךְ רְחֹבוֹת | bə-toḵ re-ḥô-vōṯ} ‘within the open squares’—escalates the sense of exposure in public venues. The final verb eratzeach {אֵרָצֵחַ | ʾē-rā-ṣē-aḥ} in the Niphal imperfect conveys a passive fear ‘I will be slain.’ The English rendering preserves the paratactic structure through coordinate clauses and clarifies spatial progression while maintaining the Hebrew’s emphatic progression from outside to the midst of squares. |