| 21. Linguistic Exegesis The waw-consecutive clause vehayu he’arim {וְהָי֣וּ הֶעָרִים | wə-hā-yū hē-ʿā-rîm} ‘and they were the cities’ links this verse to the preceding narrative. The construct chain lematteh benei Binyamin {לְמַטֵּ֛ה בְּנֵ֥י בִנְיָמִ֖ן | lə-mat-têh bə-nê bin-yā-min} combines the preposition lamed with a noun phrase ‘tribe of the sons of Benjamin,’ marking tribal territory allocation. The prepositional phrase lemishpechoteihem {לְמִשְׁפְּחֽוֹתֵיהֶ֑ם | lə-miš-pə-ḥō-tê-hêm} ‘for their clans’ further specifies subdivision by lineage. The list of place names—Yerikho {יְרִיח֥וֹ | ye-rī-ḥō}, u-beit-chaglah {וּבֵית־חָגְלָה | wə-ḇêṯ-ḥā-ḡə-lāh}, ve-emek ketzitz {וְעֵ֥מֶק קְצִֽיץ | wə-ʿê-meq qə-ṭîṣ}—uses the copulative waw to enumerate the allocated sites. The English rendition shifts the construct phrases into natural attributive order and renders the prepositional clauses as relative modifiers to maintain readability while preserving the Hebrew emphasis on tribal and familial inheritance. |