| 24. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the negative imperative al {אַל | ʾal} ‘do not’ governing the Hitpael imperfect titra {תִּתְרַע | tit-raʿ} ‘you befriend,’ forming a prohibition. The direct object marker et {אֶת | ʾet} introduces the construct chain baʿal af {בַּעַל אָף | baʿ-al ʾap̄} ‘possessor of anger.’ The conjunction wə-ʾet {וְאֶת | wə-ʾet} repeats the object marker before ʾiš ḥēmōt {אִישׁ חֵמוֹת | ʾiš ḥē-mōṯ} ‘man of wrath.’ The second clause employs lōʾ tāḇōʾ {לֹא תָבוֹא | lōʾ tā-ḇōʾ} ‘not you go,’ creating parallel prohibitions. This syntactic parallelism, typical of Hebrew wisdom poetry, intensifies the caution against intimacy with the angry. |