| 9. Linguistic Exegesis The verse employs a sequential series of prepositional and relative clauses to map territory. The opening prepositional phrase me-‘aro‘er {מֵעֲרוֹעֵ֡ר | mê-‘ă-rō-‘ēr} ‘from Aroer’ establishes the point of departure. Two relative clauses introduced by a-sher {אֲשֶׁר֩ | ’ă-šer} ‘which’ refine the setting: al-se-fat-na-khal {עַל־שְׂפַת־נַ֨חַל | ‘al-sə-faṯ-na-ḥal} ‘on the rim of the wadi’ locates the boundary along the Arnon channel, and ve-ha-‘ir–be-tokh-ha-nachal {וְהָעִ֨יר אֲשֶׁ֧ר בְּתוֹךְ־הַנַּ֛חַל | wə-hā-‘îr ’ă-šer bə-ṯōḵ-han-naḥal} ‘and the city that is in the midst of the valley’ specifies an urban landmark. The conjunction ve-khol-ha-mi-shor {וְכָל־הַמִּישֹׁ֥ר | wə-ḵol-ham-mî-šôr} ‘and all the plateau’ broadens the scope to the adjacent plateau, and the final phrases mey-de-BA {מֵידְבָ֖א | mê-yĕḏ-ḇā} ‘from Medeba’ and ad-di-VON {עַד־דִּיבֽוֹן | ’ad-dî-ḇōn} ‘to Dibon’ delineate the terminal boundary. The use of construct chains and definite articles in se-fat and ham-mi-shor signals known landmarks, and English preserves the original Hebrew sequence of precise site followed by expanded region to retain the verse’s territorial list structure. |