| 10. Linguistic Exegesis The construct prepositional phrase le-matteh {לְמַטֵּ֣ה | lĕ-mattêh} ‘for the tribe’ introduces the tribal designation, immediately followed by the proper noun Zevulun {זְבוּלֻ֔ן | zə-vû-lûn} ‘Zebulun’. The personal name Gaddiel {גַּדִּיאֵ֖ל | gaddî-ʾêl} ‘Gaddiel’ functions in apposition, with the construct chain ben-Sodi {בֶּן־סוֹדִֽי׃ | bĕn-sō-dî} ‘son of Sodi’ marking patrilineal descent. Hebrew’s appositional syntax places the tribal affiliation before the individual’s name, which is mirrored in English by “From the tribe of…” and “son of” to preserve the semantic and syntactic relationships. |