| 19. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the verb shema {שְׁמַע | šə-māʿ} ‘hear’, an imperative demanding attentive listening. The independent pronoun attah {אַתָּה | ʾă-tāh} ‘you’ underscores direct address. The noun beni {בְנִי | bə-nî} ‘my son’ establishes a familial context. The paired imperatives va-chakham {וַחֲכָם | wa-ḥa-ḵā̈m} ‘and be wise’ and ve-asher {וְאַשֵּׁר | wə-ʼaš-šêr} ‘and direct’ form a progressive sequence from receptive hearing to intellectual growth and deliberate action. The construct ba-derekh {בַּדֶּרֶךְ | ba-ḏé-rèḵ} ‘in the way’ serves as a metaphor for one’s life course. The prepositional phrase with the suffix-laden noun libbekha {לִבֶּךָ | lib-bê-ḵā} ‘your heart’ locates moral decision within the seat of cognition and will, preserving the terse Hebrew arrangement in English. |