Deuteronomy 4:48

מֵעֲרֹעֵר אֲשֶׁר עַל־שְׂפַת־נַחַל אַרְנֹן וְעַד־הַר שִׂיאֹן הוּא חֶרְמֽוֹן׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

מֵעֲרֹעֵ֞ר אֲשֶׁ֨ר עַל־שְׂפַת־נַ֧חַל אַרְנֹ֛ן וְעַד־הַ֥ר שִׂיאֹ֖ן ה֥וּא חֶרְמֽוֹן׃

Greek (Septuagint)

ἀπὸ Ἀροὴρ ἥ ἐστιν ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖλος χειμάρρου Ἀρνῶν, καὶ ἰπὶ τοῦ ὄρους τοῦ Σηὼν ὅ ἐστιν Ἁερμών,

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

ab Aroër, quæ sita est super ripam torrentis Arnon, usque ad montem Sion, qui est et Hermon,

Spanish

desde Aroer, que está a la orilla del valle de Arnón, hasta el monte Sión (también llamado Hermón),

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Desde Aroer, que está junto á la ribera del arroyo de Arnón, hasta el monte de Sión, que es Hermón;

English

extending from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Siyon ( that is, Hermon),

✦ What the text says

Summary

This verse describes a geographical boundary, marking a territory that extends from the city of Aroer, located on the edge of the wadi (valley/stream) of Arnon, up to Mount Siyon, which the text identifies as being the same as Hermon.

Key words

me ("from", H9006) — prefixed preposition marking the starting point of the boundary description.
'asher ("which", H0834A) — relative particle introducing a clause that further identifies Aroer's location.
sefat ("edge of", H8193I) — feminine singular construct noun, grammatically bound to nachal ("wadi") to form "edge of the wadi."
har ("mountain of", H2022G) — masculine singular construct noun, bound to the proper name Si'on, forming "Mountain of Siyon."
hu' ("he/that", H1931) — third person singular pronoun functioning here as a copula, equating "Mount Siyon" with "Hermon."

What the text says

The verse is built as a single geographical clause defining spatial limits, using the pattern me...ve'ad ("from...and to") — a common Hebrew construction for marking boundaries. The first boundary point is 'Aro'er ("Aroer", H6177H), further specified by a relative clause: 'asher 'al-sefat-nachal 'Arnon ("which is on the edge of the wadi of Arnon"). The construct chain sefat-nachal links "edge" directly to "wadi," and nachal itself is in construct with 'Arnon, producing a three-word chain meaning "the edge of the wadi of Arnon."

The second boundary point is introduced by ve'ad ("and to", H9002 + H5704), followed by another construct chain: har Si'on ("mountain of Siyon"). The final clause, hu' Chermon ("that [is] Hermon"), uses the pronoun hu' (H1931) as a linking copula rather than a full verb, a standard Biblical Hebrew way of stating identity or equivalence between two names — here indicating that "Mount Siyon" and "Hermon" refer to the same location.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew har Si'on ("mountain of Siyon") is rendered in the LXX as τοῦ ὄρους τοῦ Σηὼν and in the Vulgate as montem Sion, both preserving "Siyon" as the mountain's name. All three traditions (Hebrew, LXX, Vulgate) agree that this mountain is identified with Hermon, using their respective equivalents of the copula construction (hu' / ὅ ἐστιν / qui est et). No substantive divergence appears among the versions regarding the boundary points or the identification of Siyon with Hermon.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.