Deuteronomy 1:40

Summary

Yehovah instructs the people, through Moses, to turn away from their current course and travel back into the wilderness, heading toward the Yam Suf ("Sea of Reeds", H3220G/H5488G). The verse marks a reversal of direction after the preceding narrative of failed conquest.

Key words

• 'a.Tem ("you", H0859D) — an independent personal pronoun placed before the verbs, adding emphasis: it isolates "you" as a group receiving a specific instruction, distinct from others mentioned in the surrounding context.
• pe.Nu ("turn", H6437G) — qal imperative, masculine plural, giving a direct command to the group to change direction.
• se.'U ("set out", H5265) — a second qal imperative, masculine plural, coordinated with the first by ve ("and", H9002), forming a two-part command: turn, then travel.
• mid.Ba.ra ("wilderness", H4057B) — the noun "wilderness" carries a directional he (H9011) suffix, meaning "into/toward the wilderness," a common Hebrue construction indicating motion toward a place without a separate preposition.
• yam- ("sea of", H3220G) — construct form of "sea," linked to Suf ("reed[s]", H5488G) to form the proper name of the body of water, literally "Sea of Reeds."

What the text says

The verse opens with the conjunction ve ("and", H9002) attached to the emphatic pronoun 'a.Tem, which draws attention to the addressees before any verb appears — a construction that in Hebrew highlights contrast or emphasis on the subject. Two imperative verbs follow in sequence: pe.Nu ("turn") and se.'U ("set out"), both second person masculine plural, giving a compact two-step command. The phrase la.Khem ("for yourselves", H9005 + H9036) attached to the first imperative is a common Hebrew idiom that reinforces the personal, self-directed nature of the action — a reflexive intensifier rather than a separate concept requiring word-for-word translation.

The directional movement is expressed through mid.Ba.ra, "wilderness" with the directional he, indicating movement toward that location. This is followed by De.rekh ("way of", H1870J), a construct noun meaning "the way of" or "the road toward," which introduces the destination yam-Suf, a construct chain literally meaning "Sea of Reed(s)."

Differences between versions

The Hebrew se.'U ("set out", H5265) implies departure or travel, but the LXX renders this with ἐστρατοπεδεύσατε ("you encamped"), a verb of settling rather than departing — a notable divergence in verbal action. Regarding the destination, the Hebrew yam-Suf literally denotes "Sea of Reed(s)," while both the LXX (τῆς ἐρυθρᾶς θαλάσσης, "the Red Sea") and the Vulgate (maris Rubri, "Red Sea") render it by color rather than by the literal botanical term found in the Hebrew construct chain.