עָקֹ֥ב הַלֵּ֛ב מִכֹּ֖ל וְאָנֻ֣שׁ ה֑וּא מִ֖י יֵדָעֶֽנּוּ׃
Crooked is the heart above all things, and incurable it is; who can know it?
Morphology
- עָקֹ֥ב (ʿaqov) – Root: עקב; Form: Adjective masculine singular; Translation: “crooked” or “deceitful”; Notes: Describes the heart’s moral distortion—twisted, unpredictable, not straightforward.
- הַלֵּ֛ב (ha-lev) – Root: לב; Form: Definite noun masculine singular; Translation: “the heart”; Notes: Represents the inner being, mind, or will in biblical Hebrew.
- מִכֹּ֖ל (mi-kol) – Root: כל; Form: Preposition מִן + noun masculine singular; Translation: “above all” or “more than all”; Notes: Indicates an extreme degree—no other thing is more deceitful than the heart.
- וְאָנֻ֣שׁ (ve-anush) – Root: אנש; Form: Conjunction + adjective masculine singular; Translation: “and incurable” or “desperately sick”; Notes: Used in contexts of fatal illness—here, it speaks of the heart’s deep corruption.
- הוּא (hu) – Root: הוא; Form: Independent pronoun 3rd person masculine singular; Translation: “it is”; Notes: Acts as a copula, reinforcing the identity of the heart as deceitful and incurable.
- מִי (mi) – Root: מי; Form: Interrogative pronoun; Translation: “who”; Notes: Introduces a rhetorical question regarding human inability to truly know the heart.
- יֵדָעֶֽנּוּ (yedaʿennu) – Root: ידע; Form: Qal imperfect 3rd person masculine singular + 3rd person masculine singular suffix; Translation: “can know it”; Notes: Implies that the true nature of the heart is beyond human discernment.