| 23. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with the construct phrase keseph sigim {כֶּ֣סֶף סִ֭יגִים | kĕ-sĕp̄ sĭ-gĭm} ‘silver dross’, painting the image of a cheap residue hiding true worth. The participle metzuppeh {מְצֻפֶּ֣ה | me-ẓup̄-pĕh} ‘covered’ governs cheresh {חָ֑רֶשׂ | ḥā-rĕš} ‘potsherd’ in the prepositional phrase al-cheresh ‘on a potsherd’. In parallel, sefatayim dolqim {שְׂפָתַ֖יִם דֹּלְקִ֣ים | sĕ-pă-ṯā-yim dōl-qîm} ‘burning lips’ contrasts with wə-lev ra {וְלֶב־ רָֽע | wə-lĕv rā‛} ‘and a wicked heart’. This parallelism in a verbless poetic clause underscores the dissonance between flashy speech and corrupt motives. |