| 2. Linguistic Exegesis The verse uses three successive wayyiqtol forms: vayyisa'u {וַיִּסְע֣וּ | way·yis·‘û} ‘and they set out’, vay yavo'u {וַיָּבֹ֙אוּ֙ | way·yā·ḇō·ʾû} ‘and they came’, and vay yachanu {וַֽיַּחֲנ֖וּ | way·ya·ḥă·nû} ‘and they camped’. These imperfect verbs with vav consecutive sequence events in the narrative. The construct phrase midbar Sinai {מִדְבַּ֣ר סִינַ֔י | miḏ·bar sî·nay} ‘wilderness of Sinai’ links the noun and its genitive. The prepositional phrase bamidbar {בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר | bam·miḏ·bār} ‘in the wilderness’ restates the setting. The singular wayyiqtol in vay yichansham {וַיִּֽחַן־שָׁ֥ם | way·yi·ḥan šām} ‘and he camped there’ with Yisrael {יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל | yiś·rā·ʾēl} as subject emphasizes collective unity. Finally, the prepositional pairing neged hahar {נֶ֥גֶד הָהָֽר | ne·geḏ hā·hār} ‘in front of the mountain’ establishes spatial orientation for the ensuing covenant encounter. |