| 40. Linguistic Exegesis The opening prepositional construct le-mattêh benei Dan {לְמַטֵּה בְנֵי־דָן | lə-mat-têh benei dān} ‘to the tribe of the sons of Dan’ foregrounds the kin-based territorial unit. The element mattêh {מַטֵּה | mattêh} ‘tribal division’ links with benei Dan to specify the eponymous ancestor group. Yatza {יָצָא | yā-ṣāʾ} ‘went out’ (Qal perfect) conveys the outcome of the allotment process, which is personified in the compound nominal phrase hagōrāl hashĕbîʿî {הַגּוֹרָל הַשְּׁבִיעִי | ha-ḡô-rāl ha-šĕ-bî-ʿî} ‘the seventh lot’. The order of noun plus ordinal underscores a finite selection, and English inversion of verb and beneficiary clause preserves clarity while reflecting emphasis on the allotment result. |