| 14. Linguistic Exegesis The verse employs a sequence of vav-consecutive verbs to trace the border’s route: veta’ar {וְתָאַ֣ר | wə-ṯā-ʾăr} ‘and it turned’ and venasav {וְנָסַ֨ב | wə-nās-āv} ‘and it curved’ establish movement. The directional phrase lif’at-yam negbah {לִפְאַת־יָ֜ם נֶ֗גְבָּה | li-phaˈt yām nɛg-bā} ‘to the side of the sea southward’ defines orientation. A relative clause introduced by asher {אֲשֶׁ֨ר | ʾă-šer} ‘which’ attaches to min-hahar {מִן־הָהָר֙ | mîn hā-hār} ‘from the mountain,’ further specified by al-pnei beit-choron {עַל־פְּנֵ֥י בֵית־חֹרוֹן | ʿal pə-nê bēt ḥō-rōn} ‘in front of Beth Horon.’ After repeating negbah, the clause vehayu totzotav {וְהָי֣וּ תֹֽצְאֹתָ֗יו | wə-hā-yū tōṣ-ʾō-tā-v} ‘and were its goings-out’ describes the border’s end point, el-kiryat-baal {אֶל־קִרְיַת־בַּ֙עַל֙ | el kir-yāt ba-ʿāl} ‘to Kiriath Baal.’ A parenthetical identification hi kiryat-ye’arim {הִ֚יא קִרְיַת יְעָרִ֔ים | hî kir-yāt yə-ʿa-rîm} ‘which is Kiriath Jearim’ clarifies the dual name. The summarizing statement zot pe’at-yam {זֹ֖את פְּאַת־יָֽם | zôt pə-ʾat yām} ‘this is the side of the sea’ concludes the geographic description, a common boundary-listing feature. |