| 16. Linguistic Exegesis The Hebrew verse employs a vav-consecutive sequence with veyarad {וְיָרַד | wə-yā-rəḏ} ‘and it went down’ to trace stepwise descent. The relative asher {אֲשֶׁר | ʾa-šer} ‘which’ clauses attach to hahar {הָהָר | hā-hār} and gei-ben-hinnom {גֵּי־בֶן־הִנֹּם | gē-ben-hi-nōm} ‘Valley of Ben Hinnom,’ providing locative modification. The construct al-penei {עַל־פְּנֵי | ʿal-pə-nê} ‘upon the face of’ introduces the viewpoint of the hill, while tsfonah {צָפוֹנָה | ṣā-pō-nā} ‘northward’ and negbah {נֶגְבָּה | ne-ḡă-bā} ‘southward’ establish orientation. The phrase el-ketef-hayevusi {אֶל־כֶּתֶף הַיְבוּסִי | ʾel-ke-tef ha-yə-bū-sî} ‘to the slope of the Jebusite’ uses ketef {כֶּתֶף | ke-tef} as a geographic classifier. The paratactic repetition of veyarad actions is mirrored in English by a series of descending verbs, preserving the Hebrew’s sequential structure. |