| 3. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with the prepositional phrase min-ha-shichor {מִן־הַשִּׁיחֹר | min-hă-šî-ḥôr} ‘from the Shihor’, marking the starting boundary. The relative pronoun asher {אֲשֶׁר | ’ă-šer} ‘which’ links to al-penei mitzrayim {עַל־פְּנֵי מִצְרָיִם | ’al-pə-nê miṣ-rā-yim} ‘upon the face of Egypt’. The conjunction ve-ad {וְעַד | wə-‘ad} ‘and up to’ extends the region to gevul eqron tsafonah {גְּבוּל עֶקְרוֹן צָפוֹנָה | gə-vul ’e-qron ṣā-pō-nāh} ‘the northward border of Ekron’. The phrase la-kena‘ani teichashev {לַכְּנַעֲנִי תֵּחָשֵׁב | la-kə-ṇa-‘a-nî tē-ḥā-šeḇ} ‘it is reckoned to the Canaanite’ employs the Niphal imperfect to convey passive assignment. The enumeration chameshet sarnei pelishtim {חֲמֵשֶׁת סַרְנֵי פְלִשְׁתִּים | ḥă-mē-šet sar-nê pə-liš-tim} ‘five lords of the Philistines’ uses construct-state plus ethnonym, followed by appositional gentilic adjectives (ha-azati, ha-ashdodi, etc.) naming each ruler. The final conjunctive ve-ha-avim {וְהָעַוִּים | wə-hā-’a-wîm} ‘and the Avvites’ adds an indigenous people group. English rendering preserves the Hebrew’s geographic ordering and structured listing of territorial authorities. |