| 33. Linguistic Exegesis The construct noun me'erat {מְאֵרַת | mĕʾê-rāṯ} “curse” governs the divine name Yahweh {יְהוָה | Yəhôwāh} in a genitive relationship. The prepositional phrase bbeit rosha' {בְּבֵית רָשָׁע | bᵊ-ḇêyt rā-šāʿ} “in the house of the wicked” defines the locus of divine judgment. The adversative conjunction uneveh {וּנְוֵה | ū-nᵊ-wê} “and the habitation of” introduces a parallel positive focus tsaddiqim {צַדִּיקִים | ṣad-dî-qîm} “righteous.” The verb yebarekh {יִבָרֵךְ | yə-ḇā-rêḵ} in the piel imperfect expresses ongoing divine blessing. This chiastic parallelism between curse/blessing and wicked/righteous underlines the moral antithesis central to Hebrew wisdom poetry. |