Exodus 23:31

Summary

This verse describes the boundaries YHWH will establish for the territory, running from the yam suf ("sea of reeds", H5488) to the sea of the Pelishtim ("Philistines", H6430), and from the wilderness to "the River" (H5104). It then states a condition: the inhabitants of the land will be given into the hands of the people, who will then drive them out.

Key words

• sha.Ti ("I will fix/place", H7896) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative sequence begun in prior verses; first-person subject (YHWH).
• yam suf ("sea of reeds", H5488) — construct noun phrase naming a specific body of water; yam ("sea", H3220) in construct form "sea of."
• nahar ("River", H5104) — used here with the definite article ha- (H9009), "the River," functioning as a proper geographic designation without further qualification in the Hebrew.
• 'e.Ten ("I will give", H5414) — qal imperfect, marking an action presented as ongoing/future, introduced by the particle ki ("for/that", H3588).
• ge.rash.Ta. ("you will drive out", H1644) — piel (intensive) sequential perfect, second-person singular, with third-person plural suffix -mo ("them", H9038) attached.

What the text says

The verse opens with a sequential perfect verb, sha.Ti ("I will fix", H7896), continuing a chain of divine statements. Its object is gevul-kha ("your border", H1366 + H9021), marked by the direct object particle 'et (H0853). The boundary is defined by two paired prepositional phrases using min...ve-'ad ("from...and to"): from yam suf (H5488) to yam pelishtim ("sea of the Philistines", H6430), and from midbar ("wilderness", H4057) to ha-nahar ("the River", H5104). Each geographic term in construct ("sea of," "border of") ties the location to what follows it, producing a chain of spatial construct phrases rather than independent nouns.

The second half of the verse is introduced by ki (H3588), here functioning as a subordinating/causal particle ("for" or "that"), connecting the promise of territory to the action that follows: 'e.Ten ("I will give", H5414), a qal imperfect denoting future or ongoing action, with the object yoshevei ha-'aretz ("inhabitants of the land", H3427 + H0776), where yoshevei is a participle in construct form ("the ones dwelling of"). The verse closes with ve-gerashtamo ("and you will drive them out", H1644), a piel sequential perfect carrying an intensive nuance compared to the simple qal, with the pronominal suffix -mo (H9038) attached directly to the verb rather than expressed as a separate object.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew names the water body as yam suf ("sea of reeds", H5488), while the LXX renders it "the red sea" (τῆς ἐρυθρᾶς θαλάσσης) and the Vulgate similarly as "mari Rubro" ("Red Sea"). The Hebrew ha-nahar ("the River", H5104) is left unspecified in the Hebrew text itself, while the LXX adds a qualifier, "the great river Euphrates" (τοῦ μεγάλου ποταμοῦ Εὐφράτου), and modern translations such as SBLIBRE follow this specification ("río Éufrates"), though this name does not appear in the Hebrew wording of this verse.