| 4. Linguistic Exegesis The verse employs vav-consecutive narrative sequences ve-avar {וְעָבַ֣ר | wə-ʿā-ḇar} ‘and it passed’ and ve-yatza {וְיָצָא֙ | wə-yā-ṣāʾ} ‘and it went out’ to mark a route from Azmonah to the wadi {נַ֣חַל | na-ḥal} of Egypt. The perfect ve-hayu {וְהָי֛וּ | wə-hā-yû} ‘and they were’ links totzaot {תֹּצְא֥וֹת | tō-ṣāʾōṯ} ‘outgoings’ with ha-gevul {הַגְּב֖וּל | ha-geb-ûl} ‘the boundary,’ identifying its termini at yamah {יָ֑מָּה | yā-māh} ‘west/sea.’ The deictic-expression zeh-yihyeh {זֶה־יִהְיֶ֥ה | zeh-yih-yə} ‘this shall be’ plus Qal imperfect designates negev {נֶֽגֶב | ne-gev} as the southern limit. English renders the Hebrew VSO order into SVO for readability while preserving directional emphasis. |