| 9. Linguistic Exegesis The verse presents two antithetical conditional clauses introduced by pen {פֶּן | pên} ‘lest’. In the first, esba {אֶשְׂבַּ֨ע | ’esbaʿ} ‘become satisfied’ leads to denial and the rhetorical question mi {מִ֥י | mî} ‘who is yə-hō-wāh {יְה֫וָ֥ה | Yə-hō-wāh}’. The second clause (û-pen-’ivvāreš {וּפֶֽן־אִוָּרֵ֥שׁ}) ‘lest I become poor’ triggers sequential verbs v-ganavtî {וְגָנַ֑בְתִּי | və-ganavtî} ‘I steal’ and v-ṯāphaštî {וְ֝תָפַ֗שְׂתִּי | və-ṯāphaštî} ‘I seize’. This parallelism underscores the dangers of both abundance and poverty. The noun šēm ʾĕ-lō-hāy {שֵׁ֣ם אֱלֹהָֽי} ‘name of my God’ denotes divine reputation and the solemnity of not profaning it. |