| 1. Linguistic Exegesis The verse employs a sequence of wayyiqtol verbs—vayissa {וַיִּסַּע | way-yis-saʿ} ‘and he journeyed’, vayeshev {וַיֵּשֶׁב | way-yē-šeḇ} ‘and he settled’, and vayagar {וַיָּגָר | way-yā-gār} ‘and he sojourned’—to portray Abraham’s successive movements. The prepositional phrase misham {מִשָּׁם | miš-šām} marks the point of departure. Artsah hanNegev {אַרְצָה הַנֶּגֶב | ʾar-ṣāh han-ne-gev} functions as a goal-of-motion idiom targeting the desert region. The locative construction bein … uvein {בֵּין … וּבֵין | bēn … û-ḇēn} defines his dwelling area between Kadesh and Shur. Finally, bigerar {בִּגְרָר | bi-grār} highlights his temporary residence in Gerar. English preserves the narrative’s stepwise temporal sequence and renders the vav-consecutive verbs in past tense. |