Numbers 34:3

Summary

Numbers 34:3 describes the southern border of the land, starting from the wilderness of Zin and running along the side of Edom, with a second clause specifying that this southern boundary begins at the end of the Salt Sea and extends eastward. The verse uses two parallel construct chains, each introduced by the formula vehayah lachem ("it will be to/for you").

Key words

• pe'at ("side of", H6285) — feminine singular construct noun, opening the first description of the border as a "side" or "edge."
• midbar-Tzin ("wilderness of Zin", H4057B + H6790) — construct chain naming the starting geographic point of the boundary.
• yedei ("hands of", H3027K) — dual construct form of a common-gender noun; the dual shape reflects the idiomatic use of "hands" to mean the flank or side adjoining something, here Edom.
• gevul ("border of", H1366G) — masculine singular construct noun, introducing the second clause's more technical term for "border," distinct from pe'at used earlier.
• qedmah ("eastward", H6924B + directional he, H9011) — the directional suffix turns the noun "east" into an adverbial "toward the east," marking the direction in which the border extends from the Salt Sea.

What the text says

The verse is built as two parallel sentences, each beginning with vehayah lachem ("and it will be to you"), a sequential perfect construction that continues a narrative sequence of instructions about territorial boundaries. In the first sentence, the border is called pe'at-negev ("side of south"), traced mimmidbar-Tzin ("from the wilderness of Zin") al-yedei Edom ("upon the hands of Edom"). The phrase yedei Edom, using the dual construct of "hand," is an idiom describing a boundary running alongside or adjoining Edom's territory, not a literal reference to hands.

The second sentence switches to a different term for boundary, gevul negev ("border of south"), and specifies its starting point as miqtzeh yam-hamelach ("from the end of the Sea of Salt"), extending qedmah, "eastward," through the directional he suffix attached to the noun for "east." The two clauses together move from a general orientation (the "side" facing south) to a precise boundary marker (the "border" starting at the Salt Sea and running east), using two distinct Hebrew nouns, pe'at and gevul, that both get translated as "border" or "side" in English but are not identical terms in the Hebrew text.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders yedei Edom ("hands of Edom") as ἕως ἐχόμενον Ἐδώμ ("as far as bordering on Edom"), interpreting the idiom rather than reproducing the "hand" image; the Vulgate similarly gives quae est juxta Edom ("which is next to Edom"). For qedmah ("eastward," with directional he), the Hebrew indicates motion or extension toward the east, while the LXX's ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν ("from the east") expresses the opposite directional sense, describing the border as originating from the east rather than extending toward it.