Deuteronomy 2:14

וְהַיָּמִים אֲשֶׁר־הָלַכְנוּ׀ מִקָּדֵשׁ בַּרְנֵעַ עַד אֲשֶׁר־עָבַרְנוּ אֶת־נַחַל זֶרֶד שְׁלֹשִׁים וּשְׁמֹנֶה שָׁנָה עַד־תֹּם כָּל־הַדּוֹר אַנְשֵׁי הַמִּלְחָמָה מִקֶּרֶב הַֽמַּחֲנֶה כַּאֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע יְהוָה לָהֶֽם׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וְהַיָּמִ֞ים אֲשֶׁר־הָלַ֣כְנוּ׀ מִקָּדֵ֣שׁ בַּרְנֵ֗עַ עַ֤ד אֲשֶׁר־עָבַ֙רְנוּ֙ אֶת־נַ֣חַל זֶ֔רֶד שְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים וּשְׁמֹנֶ֖ה שָׁנָ֑ה עַד־תֹּ֨ם כָּל־הַדּ֜וֹר אַנְשֵׁ֤י הַמִּלְחָמָה֙ מִקֶּ֣רֶב הַֽמַּחֲנֶ֔ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר נִשְׁבַּ֥ע יְהוָ֖ה לָהֶֽם׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ αἱ ἡμέραι ἃς παρεπορεύθημεν ἀπὸ Καδὴς Βαρνὴ ἕως οὗ παρήλθομεν τὴν φάραγγα Ζάρετ τριάκοντα καὶ ὀκτὼ ἔτη, ἕως οὗ διέπεσεν πᾶσα γενεὰ ἀνδρῶν πολεμιστῶν ἀποθνήσκοντες ἐκ τῆς βολῆς, καθότι ὤμοσεν αὐτοῖς ὁ θεός·

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Tempus autem, quo ambulavimus de Cadesbarne usque ad transitum torrentis Zared, triginta et octo annorum fuit: donec consumeretur omnis generatio hominum bellatorum de castris, sicut juraverat Dominus:

Spanish

Los días en que salimos de Cades Barnea hasta que pasamos el arroyo de Zered fueron treinta y ocho años, hasta que toda la generación de los hombres de guerra fue consumida desde la mitad del campamento, como se lo había jurado el Señor.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y los días que anduvimos de Cades-barnea hasta que pasamos el arroyo de Zered, fueron treinta y ocho años; hasta que se acabó toda la generación de los hombres de guerra de en medio del campo, como Jehová les había jurado.

English

The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Brook of Zered was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.

✦ What the text says

Summary

The verse states the total time elapsed between leaving Kadesh-barnea and crossing the Wadi Zered: thirty-eight years. This period corresponds exactly to the time needed for the entire generation of fighting men to die out from the camp, in fulfillment of what Yehovah had sworn to them.

Key words

ha.Lakh.nu ("we walked", H1980G) — qal perfect, first person plural, marking the completed action of departing/traveling from Kadesh-barnea.
'a.Var.nu ("we passed over", H5674A) — qal perfect, first person plural, parallel in form to ha.Lakh.nu, marking the endpoint of the journey at the wadi.
tom ("was finished", H8552) — qal infinitive, expressing the completion of the generation, functioning as the temporal boundary "until [the] finishing of."
Dor ("generation", H1755) — masculine singular noun, in construct with 'an.Shei ha.mil.cha.Mah ("men of the war"), specifying which generation is meant.
nish.Ba' ("he had sworn", H7650) — niphal perfect, third person masculine singular, describing Yehovah's prior oath as the standard (ka.'a.Sher, "just as") against which the elapsed time is measured.

What the text says

The verse is built on two parallel temporal clauses introduced by 'a.Sher ("which/that", H0834A), both governing perfect-tense verbs of motion: ha.Lakh.nu ("we walked") and 'a.Var.nu ("we passed over"). This creates a frame — from departure at Kadesh-barnea to arrival at the Wadi Zered — that is then quantified as she.lo.Shim u.she.mo.Neh sha.Nah ("thirty and eight, a year"), using the singular sha.Nah ("year", H8141) in a distributive sense with the compound number.

The second half of the verse uses 'ad ("until", H5704) again, this time governing the infinitive tom ("was finished/ending", H8552), to state the purpose or result of that time span: the ending of kol ha.Dor ("all the generation", H1755), specified in construct as 'an.Shei ha.mil.cha.Mah ("the men of the war", H0582/H4421). The phrase mi.Ke.rev ha.ma.cha.Neh ("from the midst of the camp", H7130G/H4264) locates where this generation ceased to exist. The final clause, introduced by ka.'a.Sher ("just as", H9004/H0834D), ties this outcome to the prior oath sworn by Yehovah (H3068G), using the niphal perfect nish.Ba' ("he had sworn", H7650), a form that in this stem denotes a self-involving or solemn declarative act.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders nach.al Ze.red ("wadi of Zered") as τὴν φάραγγα Ζάρετ ("the ravine of Zaret"), using φάραγξ ("ravine/gorge") rather than a term for a seasonal watercourse. Where the Hebrew has 'an.Shei ha.mil.cha.Mah ("men of the war"), the LXX adds ἀποθνήσκοντες ἐκ τῆς βολῆς ("dying from the missile/blow"), an expansion not present in the Hebrew construct phrase. The Hebrew Yehovah (H3068G) is rendered ὁ θεός ("God") in the LXX and Dominus ("the Lord") in the Vulgate.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.