| 6. Linguistic Exegesis The verse is headed by ve-livnei {וְלִבְנֵ֣י | wə-liv-nē} ‘and to the sons of’, a fronted prepositional phrase marking the recipients and linking this allotment to the preceding distribution context. Gershon {גֵרְשׁ֗וֹן | Gēr-šōn} specifies which Levitical subgroup is in view, and the following chain of min-phrases (“from … from … from …”) provides a source list: mimmishpechot {מִמִּשְׁפְּח֣וֹת | mim-miš-pə-ḥōṯ} ‘from the families of’ introduces the donor units, while maṭṭē {מַטֵּה | maṭ-ṭē} in construct with each tribal name organizes the list as successive contributors. The phrase u-mechatsi matteh Menasheh {וּ֠מֵחֲצִי מַטֵּ֨ה מְנַשֶּׁ֤ה | ū-mē-ḥă-ṣî maṭ-ṭē mə-naš-šeh} ‘and from half (of) the tribe of Manasseh’ narrows the final source, and babashan {בַבָּשָׁן֙ | ba-bā-šān} ‘in Bashan’ locates that half-tribe geographically. The adverbial bagoral {בַּגּוֹרָ֔ל | ba-gō-rāl} ‘by lot’ signals the authorized procedure for determining the assignment, and its placement before the object highlights method before outcome. The object arim {עָרִ֖ים | ʿā-rîm} ‘cities’ is quantified by the compound numeral shelosh esreh {שְׁלֹ֥שׁ עֶשְׂרֵֽה | šə-lōš ʿeś-rēh} ‘three ten’, an additive Hebrew number expression yielding “thirteen,” which English renders as a single cardinal for clarity. |