| 2. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative uses the vav-consecutive imperfect vayivateru {וַיִּוָּֽתְרוּ | way·yiv·wā·ṯə·rû} ‘and they remained’ to continue the preceding account. The prepositional phrase bivnei Yisrael {בִּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל | biv·nē yîs·rā·ʾēl} ‘among the sons of Israel’ specifies the group. A relative clause introduced by asher {אֲשֶׁר | ʾă·šer} ‘who’ qualifies these tribes, with the negated perfect lo-chalku {לֹא־חָלְקוּ | lō-ḥāl·qū} ‘had not divided’ indicating an action left incomplete. The direct object marker et combined with nachalatam {אֶת־נַחֲלָתָם | ʾet·na·ḥa·lā·ṯām} ‘their inheritance’ marks what was not divided. The clause concludes with the numeral-noun sequence shivah shvatim {שִׁבְעָה שְׁבָטִים | šiḇ·ʿā(h) še·ḇā·ṯîm} ‘seven tribes’, a common Hebrew pattern placing number before noun at the end for emphasis. In English, the relative clause and numeric subject are reordered for clarity and focus on the tribes awaiting their portion. |