Numbers 34:5

Summary

The verse describes a boundary line that "turns" from Azmon toward the Wadi of Egypt, and states that its endpoint is the sea. This is part of a longer legal/geographic description delimiting a territorial border.

Key words

• na.Sav ("it will turn", H5437G) — Niphal sequential perfect: the border is the grammatical subject acting on itself, giving a middle/passive sense ("the border turns itself") rather than an external agent turning it.
• ha.Gvul ("the border", H1366G) — definite masculine singular noun, the subject of the clause, tracked through the whole boundary description.
• Nach.la ("[the] wadi of", H5158L) — construct form with attached directional he (H9011), literally orienting the sentence "toward-the-wadi," then linked to mitz.Ra.yim ("Egypt", H4714J) in a construct chain: "the wadi of Egypt."
• totz.'o.Ta ("extremities/endpoints of", H8444) — feminine plural construct with 3ms suffix ("its extremities"), referring back to ha.Gvul, "the border."
• ha.Yamma ("toward the sea", H3220G + H9011) — the noun "sea" with directional he attached, indicating motion or orientation "seaward" rather than a static location.

What the text says

The clause structure is built on two sequential perfect verbs (na.Sav and ha.Yu) joined by narrative vav, a construction typical of legal/geographic itineraries that describe a route as a sequence of movements rather than static facts: "and it will turn... and they will be." The Niphal form of na.Sav gives the border itself an almost active role — it "turns" without a stated external agent, which the passive/reflexive form is suited to express.

The phrase Nach.la mitz.Ra.yim uses a directional he suffixed to "wadi" and then places it in construct with "Egypt," so the sense is not simply "brook" as a static noun but an oriented movement toward that wadi, which is then specified as belonging to Egypt. The same directional he pattern recurs at the end with ha.Yamma, "toward the sea," reinforcing that the entire verse describes a directional trajectory of the border line, ending at the sea, rather than listing fixed points.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate expands the construct phrase with "usque ad torrentem Ægypti" ("as far as the torrent of Egypt"), adding an explicit "up to" that is not a separate word in the Hebrew, where the sense of direction is carried only by the directional he. The Vulgate also renders ha.Yamma as "maris magni littore" ("by the shore of the great sea"), introducing "great" and "shore," concepts not present in the Hebrew's simple directional form. The LXX renders the ending more literally as "ἔσται ἡ διέξοδος ἡ θάλασσα" ("the outlet will be the sea"), closer to the Hebrew's directional sense than the Vulgate's expanded phrase.