| 23. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the vav-consecutive way-hî {וַיְהִ֗י | way-hî} ‘and it was’, introducing a summary clause. The noun gəvûl {גְּבוּל֙ | gəvûl} ‘border’ heads the first clause, linking to bᵉnê-rəʾūvên {בְּנֵ֣י־רְאוּבֵ֔ן | bᵉnê-rəʾūvên} ‘sons of Reuben’ and ha-yarden {הַיַּרְדֵּ֖ן | ha-yǎr-ḏēn} ‘the Jordan’. It recurs to introduce the appositional summary marked by zôt {זֹ֣את | zôt} ‘this’ and the construct naḥălâṯ {נַחֲלַ֤ת | naḥălâṯ} ‘inheritance’. The prepositional phrase lᵉmiš-pᵊ-ḥō-ṯām {לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֔ם | lᵊ-miš-pᵊ-ḥō-ṯām} ‘according to their families’ specifies tribal subdivisions, and the coordinated pair hēʿārîm {הֶעָרִ֖ים | hēʿārîm} ‘the cities’ and vᵊ-ḥaṣ-rê-ye-hên {וְחַצְרֵיהֶֽן | vᵊ-ḥaṣ-rê-ye-hên} ‘and their villages’ forms an inclusio that frames central urban centers with their villages. English rendering preserves the repetition of “border” and the distributive cities-and-villages phrase to maintain the Hebrew parallel structure and allocation nuance. |