| 18. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the temporal phrase bayom hahu {בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא | bay-yôm hah-hû} ‘on that day’, which signals a specific, weighty historical moment and frames the following action as a decisive divine act. The main verbal clause is kārat Yahweh {כָּרַת יְהוָה | kā-rat Yə-hō-wāh}, with Yahweh as subject and karat as a Qal perfect verb meaning literally “He cut,” an idiom for covenant making that alludes to sacrificial rites. The particle et {אֶת | ʾeṯ} introduces Avram {אַבְרָם | ʾaḇ-rām} as the affected party, followed by berit {בְּרִית | bə-rît} ‘covenant’, which functions as the central legal-theological term specifying the nature of the relationship. The infinitive construct leemor {לֵאמֹר | lē-ʾmōr} introduces direct divine speech that elaborates the content of the covenant. Within the speech, the prepositional phrase lezarʿakha {לְזַרְעֲךָ | lə-zar-ʿă-kā} ‘to your descendants’ is dative of advantage, specifying the beneficiaries of the grant. The verb natati {נָתַתִּי | nā-tat-tî} is a perfect first person form, “I have given,” used as a prophetic or performative perfect: the land grant is so certain it is spoken of as completed. The object phrase et-haarets hazot {אֶת־הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת | ʾet-hā-ʾā-reṣ haz-zōṯ} ‘this land’ is then delimited geographically by a pair of prepositional phrases: min-nahar Mitsrayim {מִנְּהַר מִצְרַיִם | min-nehar miṣ-rayim} ‘from the river of Egypt’ and ʿad-hanahar hagadol nehar Perat {עַד־הַנָּהָר הַגָּדֹל נְהַר־פְּרָת | ʿad-han-nā-hār hag-gā-ḏōl nə-har-pə-rāṯ} ‘up to the great river, the river Euphrates’. The repetition of nahar {נְהַר | nə-har} with the adjective hagadol {הַגָּדֹל | hag-gā-ḏōl} and then the specific name Perat {פְּרָת | pə-rāṯ} creates a layered apposition that heightens the grandeur and clarity of the promised territory. Syntactically, the verse presents a narrative main clause followed by direct speech that functions as a covenant grant formula, and the choice of aspect and the precise borders communicate the irrevocable and expansive nature of Yahweh’s commitment. |