| 10. Linguistic Exegesis The verse employs antithetical parallelism typical of Hebrew wisdom literature. In the first cola, anshei damim {אַנְשֵׁ֣י דָ֭מִים | ʾăn-šê dā-mîm} ‘men of blood’ forms a construct chain indicating violent perpetrators, followed by the Qal imperfect yisneu {יִשְׂנְאוּ | yiś-nə-ʾû} ‘they hate’ and its object tam {תָ֑ם | tām} ‘blameless’. In the second cola, yesharim {וִֽ֝ישָׁרִ֗ים | wî-ša-rîm} ‘upright’ parallels the first subject, and the Piel imperfect yevakshu {יְבַקְּשׁ֥וּ | yə-vaq-šû} ‘they seek’ takes the pronominal suffix nafsho {נַפְשֽׁוֹ | nap-šô} ‘his soul’ as object. The waw-conjunction introduces contrast, preserved in English with “but.” |