| 5. Linguistic Exegesis The verse employs synonymous parallelism by pairing chevlei she'ol {חֶבְלֵי שְׁאוֹל | khev-lê shə-ʾōl} ‘cords of Sheol’ with sevavuni {סְבָבוּנִי | sə-ḇā-ḇū-nî} ‘surrounded me’, and moqshei mavet {מוֹקְשֵׁי מָוֶת | mōq-šê mā-weṯ} ‘snares of death’ with kidmuni {קִדְּמוּנִי | qiḏ-mū-nî} ‘confronted me’. The Piel perfect verbs linked to construct nouns create a compressed, staccato rhythm that heightens the threat. The absence of a conjunction between the two clauses intensifies the sense of imminent peril. |