Deuteronomy 4:43

Summary

The verse lists the three cities of refuge east of the Jordan, each assigned to a specific tribal territory: Bezer in the wilderness for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

Key words

• Be.tzer ("Bezer", H1221G) — proper name of a city, marked by the untranslated object marker 'et- (H0853), showing it is a direct object of a verb from the preceding context (setting apart these cities).
• mid.Bar ("wilderness", H4057B) — masculine singular noun with prefixed preposition ba- ("in the"), locating Bezer geographically.
• 'E.retz ("land of", H0776G) — feminine singular construct noun, linking to ha.mi.Shor ("the plain", H4334) to form "land of the plain," further specifying Bezer's location.
• ru.'u.ve.Ni ("Reubenite", H7206) — gentilic singular noun with prefixed la- ("for the"), indicating the tribal group to whom the city belongs.
• ga.Di ("Gadite", H1425) and m.na.Shi ("Manassite", H4520) — parallel gentilic nouns with the same la- prefix, structurally matching ru.'u.ve.Ni to mark the other two tribal assignments.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a list of three parallel units, each following the same pattern: object marker + place name + locational phrase + tribal designation with la- ("for the"). This repetition creates a formulaic, almost administrative rhythm, typical of geographic or legal lists in the Hebrew Bible. Each city is introduced by 'et- (H0853), the untranslated direct object marker, which signals that these places are the objects of a verb from the preceding verses (not shown here) — likely a verb of setting apart or designating.

The prepositional phrases ba- ("in the") attached to mid.Bar ("wilderness"), gil.'Ad ("Gilead"), and ba.Shan ("Bashan") locate each city within a broader region, while the construct phrase 'E.retz ha.mi.Shor ("land of the plain") adds a further geographic qualifier specifically for Bezer, absent for the other two cities. The final element in each unit, the gentilic noun with la- prefixed (la.ru.'u.ve.ni, la.ga.di, la.m.na.shi), assigns each city to its tribe using a possessive/purpose sense of the preposition — "belonging to" or "for" that tribal group.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate expands the terse Hebrew list into fuller relative clauses ("quæ sita est in terra campestri de tribu Ruben"), explicitly naming "tribe" (tribu) where the Hebrew simply uses the gentilic nouns ru.'u.ve.Ni, ga.Di, and m.na.Shi without the word "tribe." The LXX follows the Hebrew structure more closely, rendering the gentilics with dative forms (τῷ Ῥουβήν, τῷ Γαδδεί, τῷ Μανασσή) that parallel the Hebrew la- prefix, though it transliterates Bezer as Βόσορ rather than reflecting the Hebrew Be.tzer (H1221G) form directly.