Deuteronomy 3:16

Summary

Moses describes the territorial allotment given to the Reubenites and Gadites, running from Gilead southward to the middle of the Arnon wadi (which functions as one border) and northward to the Jabbok wadi, which marks the border of the Ammonites.

Key words

• natati ("I gave", H5414G) — qal perfect, 1st person singular: a completed act of assigning territory, spoken by Moses as the one who allotted the land.
• nachal ("wadi of", H5158N) — masculine singular construct noun; used twice (with Arnon and with Yabboq) to name the seasonal streambeds that mark boundaries.
• tokh ("middle of", H8432) — masculine singular construct noun, specifying that the boundary line runs through the middle of the wadi, not along one bank.
• gevul ("a border", H1366G) — masculine singular noun, appearing first as an absolute noun ("and a border") and later in construct form gevul benei Ammon ("border of the sons of Ammon", H1366G + H1121G + H5983), forming a possessive chain that identifies whose border is meant.
• benei ("sons/people of", H1121G) — masculine plural construct noun, linking to Ammon (H5983) to form the full expression "the people of Ammon."

What the text says

The verse is built around the verb natati ("I gave", H5414G), placed early in the sentence, which governs the entire description of territory that follows. The recipients are marked by the gentilic forms la-Ru'uveni ("to the Reubenite", H7206) and la-Gadi ("to the Gadite", H1425), each with the preposition la ("to the", H9005) prefixed, showing dative relationship to the verb of giving. The spatial description then unfolds using two prepositions of extent, min ("from", H4480A) and 'ad ("to", H5704), framing the territory between Gilead and two named wadis.

The Hebrew syntax repeats nachal ("wadi", H5158N/H5158A) twice, first with Arnon and later with Yabboq, each time in construct form tying the common noun to the proper name. Between these two boundary markers, the phrase tokh ha-nachal u-gevul ("the middle of the wadi and a border", H8432 + H5158N + H1366G) clarifies that the boundary is not the wadi itself but its central line — a detail that specifies boundary precision beyond a simple geographic reference. The final clause uses a construct chain, gevul benei 'Ammon ("border of the sons of Ammon", H1366G + H1121G + H5983), to identify the Jabbok wadi's boundary function relative to the Ammonite territory.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) renders the passage more briefly: it gives the territory "from Galaad to the wadi of Arnon, and to the Iabok," but does not include the Hebrew's clause about "the middle of the wadi and a border" (tokh ha-nachal u-gevul), nor the closing identification "border of the sons of Ammon." The Vulgate (Clementine) includes both of these elements, closely paralleling the Hebrew structure with "medium torrentis, et confinium" and "qui est terminus filiorum Ammon." The Spanish translations (RV1909, SBLIBRE) and the English BSB likewise preserve both clauses found in the Hebrew and Vulgate, which are absent from the LXX text given here.