| 28. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the imperative re’u {רְאוּ | reʾû} ‘see’, functioning as an attention command, followed by the emphatic pronoun anokhi {אָנֹכִי | ʾănôḵî}. The Hitpael participle mitmahmeha {מִתְמַהְמֵ֔הַּ | mithmahmeha} conveys continuous, self-directed action emphasizing deliberate delay. Two successive locative phrases—baavarot {בַעֲבָרוֹת | baʿăḇārôṯ} ‘river crossings’ and be’arvot {בְּעַֽרְב֖וֹת | bəʿarvōṯ} ‘open plains’—situate the speaker within the wilderness context of hamidbar {הַמִדְבָּר | hammidbār}. The temporal clause uses ’ad {עַד | ʿad} ‘until’ with the infinitive construct bo davar {בּוֹא דָבָר | bô dāḇār} ‘the coming of a word’, creating a conditional waiting frame. The final infinitive lehaggid {לְהַגִּיד | ləhaggîḏ} ‘to tell’ specifies the purpose of the awaited communication. The translation preserves Hebrew clause order and locative sequencing to maintain narrative tension and geographic clarity. |