Deuteronomy 2:1

Summary

Deuteronomy 2:1 narrates the people's turning back and journey toward the wilderness in the direction of the Sea of Reeds, following Yehovah's earlier instruction, and their circling of the hill country of Seir over an extended period.

Key words

• va-nefen ("and we turned", H6437G) — qal narrative form, first-person plural; the narrative vav links this action directly to the preceding context, marking a shift in direction as the next event in sequence.
• va-nissa ("and we set out", H5265) — second narrative verb in sequence, continuing the chain of first-person plural actions ("we turned... and we set out").
• derekh ("way of", H1870J) — construct noun, grammatically bound to the following word yam suf, forming the phrase "the way of the Sea of Reeds," indicating direction of travel rather than a fixed destination.
• ka'asher ("as", H0834D) — relative particle with prefixed preposition, introducing a comparison clause that ties the people's movement to a prior divine statement.
• dibber ("he had spoken", H1696G) — piel perfect, third-person masculine singular; the piel stem intensifies the act of speaking, and the perfect aspect marks this as a completed action prior to the current narrative moment.

What the text says

The verse opens with two consecutive narrative verbs, va-nefen ("we turned", H6437G) and va-nissa ("we set out", H5265), both in the first-person plural qal form. This double verb construction emphasizes a sequence of actions: first a change of direction, then departure. The destination is expressed through a construct chain, ha-midbara ("the wilderness", H4057B) with directional he (H9011) attached, followed by derekh yam-suf ("the way of the Sea of Reeds", H1870J + H3220G + H5488G), a construct phrase indicating the route rather than necessarily the final endpoint.

The clause ka'asher dibber Yehovah elai ("as Yehovah had spoken to me", H0834D + H1696G + H3068G + H0413/H9030) uses the piel perfect of dibber to mark this speech as a completed prior event, referenced here to explain the rationale for the movement. The final clause shifts to another qal narrative verb, va-nasov ("and we went around", H5437H), governing the direct object har-Se'ir ("the hill country of Seir", H2022G + H8165G) via the object marker 'et (H0853). The temporal phrase yamim rabbim ("many days", H3117G + H7227A) closes the verse, with the adjective rabbim ("many") agreeing in number and gender with yamim ("days").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders yam-suf ("Sea of Reeds", H3220G + H5488G) as θάλασσαν ἐρυάν ("Red Sea" in Greek phrasing), and the Vulgate similarly gives "mare Rubrum" ("Red Sea"), where the Hebrew literally names the "Sea of Reeds" (suf, H5488G) rather than using a color term. The BSB and RV1909 follow this "Red Sea" tradition rather than the literal Hebrew designation.