| 32. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with coordinated conjunction prefixes u- and ve- linking proper names as a list. This is followed by kol-ʿarim {כָּל־עָרִ֛ים | kol-ʿa-rîm} ‘all the towns’, then the numeral forms ʿeśerîm {עֶשְׂרִ֥ים | ʿe-śer-îm} ‘twenty’ and wā-tēšaʿ {וָתֵ֖שַׁע | wā-tē-šaʿ} ‘and nine’, together denoting twenty-nine. The noun phrase wə-ḥaṣerêhen {וְחַצְרֵיהֶֽן | wə-ḥa-ṣerê-hen} ‘and their villages’ employs the construct combination of chatzer {חָצֵר | ḥā-ṣēr} ‘settlement’ plus the pronominal suffix hen ‘their’. This summary formula is typical of Joshua’s town lists, conveyed in English through listing conjunctions, punctuation, and a summarizing enumeration. |