Exodus 13:20

Summary

The verse narrates a stage in the journey of the Israelites: they depart from Succoth and set up camp at Etham, a location described as being at the edge of the wilderness. The sentence uses two sequential narrative verbs to mark movement and settlement.

Key words

• va-yis'u ("and they set out", H5265) — qal narrative form, first of two sequential actions; expresses departure as a completed step in the story sequence.
• va-yachanu ("and they encamped", H2583) — qal narrative form, second sequential action; marks the resulting halt after the departure from Succoth.
• Sukkot ("Succoth", H5523H) — proper noun, place name, marked with the preposition mi ("from", H9006) indicating the point of departure.
• Etam ("Etham", H0864) — proper noun, place name, marked with the preposition ve ("at", H9003) indicating the location of encampment.
• ketzeh ("edge of", H7097A) — masculine singular noun in construct state, meaning it must be linked to the following noun (ha-midbar) to form the phrase "edge of the wilderness."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built on two verbs in sequence, both introduced by the narrative va ("and", H9001), which chains actions in the order they occurred: first va-yis'u ("and they set out", H5265) from Sukkot ("Succoth", H5523H), then va-yachanu ("and they encamped", H2583) at Etam ("Etham", H0864). This verb pattern is typical of Biblical Hebrew narrative prose, where each new va-yiqtol form advances the storyline by one step — departure, then arrival/settlement.

The final phrase, bi-ketzeh ha-midbar ("on the edge of the wilderness"), uses a construct chain: ketzeh ("edge of", H7097A) is grammatically bound to ha-midbar ("the wilderness", H4057B), meaning the noun ketzeh cannot stand alone in Hebrew grammar but requires the following noun to complete its sense of "edge of X." The definite article ha ("the", H9009) attached to midbar specifies a particular wilderness already known in the narrative context, rather than wilderness in a general sense. The subject of the two verbs is not stated explicitly in this verse (no separate noun for "the Israelites" appears in the Hebrew segment given), the plural verb forms alone carrying the sense of "they."

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) makes explicit the subject by adding "the sons of Israel" (οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ), information not present as a separate noun in this Hebrew clause, where the subject is carried only by the verb's plural form. The Vulgate (Clementine) renders bi-ketzeh ha-midbar as "in extremis finibus solitudinis" ("in the farthest borders of the solitude/wilderness"), an expanded phrasing compared to the more compact Hebrew construct "edge of the wilderness."