| 22. Linguistic Exegesis The verse begins with u {וּ | ū} ‘and’, a prefixed conjunction that introduces a tricolon of locations. The construct noun beit {בֵית | bēṯ} ‘house’ links to ha'aravah {הָֽעֲרָבָה | ʿă-rā-vāh} ‘wilderness plain’ and el {אֵל | ʾēl} ‘God’ to form the place names Beit-Arabah and Beit-El, respectively. Tsemarayim {צְמָרַיִם | ṣə-mā-ra-yim} ‘Zemaraim’ carries a dual/plural ending indicating twin features. The repeated vav-conjunctions create an enumerative and rhythmic parallelism preserved in the English list by repeating “and” before each name. |