| 26. Linguistic Exegesis The verse uses synonymous parallelism in the phrases im navar {עִם־נָבָ֥ר | ʿim nā-ḇār} ‘with the pure’ and ve'im ikesh {וְעִם־עִקֵּ֥שׁ | wə-ʿim ʿiq-qēš} ‘and with the crooked’. The Hitpael imperfect verbs titbarar {תִּתְבָּרָ֑ר | tit-ba-rar} and tittapal {תִּתַּפָּֽל | tit-ta-pal} are reflexive, indicating that the LORD mirrors the moral character of individuals. The chiastic structure highlights reciprocal response: purity elicits purity and crookedness elicits distortion. The English translations preserve the reflexive ‘show Yourself’ and retain the Hebrew im-construction to reflect the parallel form. |