| 21. Linguistic Exegesis The narrative uses consecutive narrative verbs to present movement and investigation. The first verb, vayaʿălū {וַיַּעֲל֖וּ | va-ya-ʿă-lū} ‘and they went up’, establishes the ascent, which is immediately continued by vayyātūru {וַיָּתֻרוּ | va-yā-tū-rū} ‘and they scouted’, highlighting coordinated action. The object marker ʾet-haʾāreṣ {אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ | ʾet-hā-ʾā-reṣ} specifies ‘the land’ as the focus. The prepositional series mimmidbar-tsin {מִמִּדְבַּר־צִ֥ן | mim-mid-bār-tsin} ‘from the wilderness of Zin’ and ʿaḏ-raḥōv {עַד־רְחֹ֖ב | ʿaḏ-re-ḥōv} ‘as far as Rechov’ outlines a geographic span, while the infinitive construct lĕbōʾ {לְבֹ֥א | lĕ-bōʾ} ‘to enter’ with ḥămmāṯ {חֲמָֽת | ḥa-mmāṯ} ‘Hamath’ functions as a directional purpose clause, identifying the northern approach. English renders this with ‘from… as far as… to’ to mirror the Hebrew boundary delineation. |