| 32. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the noun acharito {אַ֭חֲרִיתוֹ | ʾă-ḥărîṯô} ‘its end’, setting a temporal focus on final consequence. The preposition kə {כְּ | kə} ‘like’ introduces two comparative similes: ke-nachash {כְּנָחָשׁ | kə-nā-ḥāš} ‘like a serpent’ and ke-tsif'oni {כְּצִפְעֹנִ֥י | kə-ṣî-pʿō-nî} ‘like a viper’, forming an intensifying parallelism. Although the Qal imperfect yafrish {יַפְרִֽשׁ | yaf-rîš} literally means ‘it will spread’, the parallelism with yishakh {יִשָּׁ֑ךְ | yiš-šāḵ} ‘it will bite’ suggests an idiomatic sense of ‘sting’, capturing the image of venom striking suddenly. The conjunction vav {וּ | wə} connects the clauses, emphasizing the compounded threat in Hebrew poetic style. |