| 15. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative opens with the vav-consecutive verb wayyitten {וַיִּתֵּ֣ן | wayyittēn} ‘and he gave’, marking sequential action. Its subject is mosheh {מֹשֶׁ֔ה | mōšēh} ‘Moses’, who functions as the distributer. The prepositional phrase le-matteh {לְמַטֵּ֥ה | lə-mattēh} ‘to tribe’ enters a construct chain with bene {בְנֵֽי־ | bə-nē} ‘sons of’ and then reuven {רְאוּבֵ֖ן | rəʾûḇēn} ‘Reuben’, forming “to the tribe of the sons of Reuben.” The final le-mishpechotam {לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָֽם | lə-mĭšpăḥōtām} ‘according to their clans’ specifies the distribution method. English retains this hierarchical chain by translating it literally. |