Deuteronomy 2:32

Summary

The verse narrates that Sihon came out to confront the Israelites in battle, together with his entire people, at the location of Jahaz. It marks the moment military confrontation begins between Sihon and the group narrating the account.

Key words

• va-yetze ("and he came forth", H3318G) — narrative vav plus qal verb, marking the next sequential action in the story; the subject is revealed immediately after as Sihon.
• li-qra'tenu ("to meet us", H7122H + H9035) — infinitive construct with preposition li ("to") and pronominal suffix "us", expressing the purpose of Sihon's movement: to encounter "us" directly.
• kol-ammo ("all his people", H3605 + H5971A + H9023) — construct chain "all of" + "people of" + suffix "his", indicating the totality of Sihon's forces accompanying him.
• la-milchamah ("for the battle", H9005 + H4421) — preposition with article attached to the noun "battle", stating the purpose of the encounter as armed conflict.
• Yahtzah ("toward Jahaz", H3096 + H9011) — proper place name with directional he suffix, indicating motion toward the location Jahaz without needing a separate preposition "to".

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence follows a simple narrative chain typical of Biblical Hebrew prose: the verb va-yetze ("and he came forth") opens the clause, followed immediately by the subject Sichon ("Sihon", H5511). The purpose of this coming forth is expressed through the infinitive construct li-qra'tenu ("to meet us"), which incorporates the first-person plural object directly as a suffix rather than as a separate pronoun.

The phrase hu ve-kol-ammo ("he and all his people") re-emphasizes the subject with an independent pronoun hu ("he", H1931), then adds the totality of his forces through the construct chain "all of the people of him." This construction places emphasis on Sihon acting in unison with his complete army, not merely as an individual.

The final phrase, la-milchamah Yahtzah ("for the battle toward Jahaz"), uses the directional he suffix on the place name Yahtzah rather than a separate preposition "to" or "toward" — a common feature in Biblical Hebrew for indicating destination with place names. This grammatical device compresses direction and location into a single word.

Differences between versions

The LXX adds a title not present in the Hebrew text: "Σηὼν βασιλεὺς Ἑσεβὼν" ("Sihon king of Heshbon"), specifying Sihon's royal title and city, whereas the Hebrew simply states Sichon ("Sihon") without this qualifier. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew more closely, naming only "Sehon" without the title. The BSB translation renders kol-ammo as "his whole army" rather than "his whole people," interpreting the term am ("people", H5971A) specifically in a military sense given the context of battle.