| 10. Linguistic Exegesis The verse employs vav-consecutive verbs to structure a geographical itinerary: venasav {וְנָסַב֩ | wə-nā-śāv} ‘and turned’, veavar {וְעָבַ֕ר | wə-‘ă-var} ‘and passed over’, veyarad {וְיָרַ֥ד | wə-yā-raḏ} ‘and went down’, guiding the border’s trajectory. Place names in construct chains such as har-yearim {הַר־יְעָרִ֛ים | har yĕ-‘ā-rîm} ‘Mount Jearim’ and bēṯ-shemēsh {בֵּֽית־שֶׁ֖מֶשׁ | bēṯ-še-mēš} ‘Beth Shemesh’ combine nouns to emphasize local features. Directional nouns with he-suffixes, yamah {יָ֙מָּה֙ | yā-māh} ‘westward’ and mitsafonah {מִצָּפ֖וֹנָה | min-ṣā-pō-nāh} ‘northward’, anchor the route. The Hebrew word order ties action verbs with locality, and English renders these as sequential motion terms to preserve the original flow, maintaining construct names and directional details. |