| 2. Linguistic Exegesis The verse features a protasis–apodosis parallelism with condition and contrasting result. The infinitive construct birvot tsaddiqim {בִּרְב֣וֹת צַ֭דִּיקִים | bə-rə-vōṯ ṣad-dî-qîm} functions as a circumstantial clause ‘when there are many righteous’, followed by the result clause yismach ha-ʿām {יִשְׂמַ֣ח הָעָ֑ם | yiś-maḥ hā-ʿām} ‘the people rejoice’. The conjunction u-vimshōl rā-ša‘ {וּבִמְשֹׁל רָ֝שָׁ֗ע | u-bim-šōl rā-ša‘} introduces an adversative “but when a wicked person rules,” leading to yē-ʾānāḥ ʿām {יֵאָ֥נַֽח עָֽם | yē-’ā-naḥ ʿām} ‘the people groan’. The shift from plural ṣad-dî-qîm to singular rā-ša‘ heightens the antithetic parallelism characteristic of Hebrew wisdom poetry. The matching imperfect verbs yiś-maḥ and yē-’ā-naḥ mirror opposite communal emotional responses, and the infinitive constructs were rendered as temporal “when” clauses with the adversative preserved as “but” to maintain Hebrew contrast. |