The Syntax of Contrastive Conjunctions: כִּי אִם in Proverbs 23:17
אַל־יְקַנֵּ֣א לִ֭בְּךָ בַּֽחַטָּאִ֑ים כִּ֥י אִם־בְּיִרְאַת־֝יְהוָ֗ה כָּל־הַיֹּֽום׃ (Proverbs 23:17) Let your heart not be jealous of sinners but rather in the fear of YHWH all the day Introducing the Phenomenon Among the various conjunctions in Biblical Hebrew, the sequence כִּי אִם plays a nuanced role in constructing contrastive statements. It often functions to negate one clause…