Numbers 10:14

Summary

The verse narrates that the standard of the camp of the descendants of Judah was the first to set out, moving in the appointed marching order of their military divisions, with Nahshon son of Amminadab in command over that division.

Key words

• yissa' ("it set out", H5265) — qal verb, narrative form (vav-consecutive), 3rd person masculine singular; the subject is grammatically the "standard" (degel), not the people directly.
• degel ("standard of", H1714) — masculine singular noun in construct state, linking to "camp of the descendants of Judah"; it is this standard, as a unit, that is said to move.
• ba-rishonah ("at the first", H7223) — feminine singular ordinal number with prefixed preposition and article, marking Judah's position as first in the sequence of tribal departures.
• le-tziv'otam ("to their military groups", H6635) — feminine plural construct noun with 3rd person plural suffix, indicating that the movement follows organized divisions belonging to Judah.
• 'al-tzeva'o ("over its military group", H6635 + H5921) — the preposition 'al ("over") plus the singular form of the same root as tziv'otam, now with a 3rd person masculine singular suffix, expressing that Nahshon stood over this specific division.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence places the verb yissa' first, in typical narrative vav-consecutive style, but its grammatical subject is not "the sons of Judah" as a collective but degel ("standard"), a term in construct chain with "camp of the descendants of Judah." This construction treats the standard — likely a banner or organizational marker — as the acting entity that "sets out," while the ordinal ba-rishonah ("at the first") specifies Judah's sequential position relative to other tribal groups mentioned elsewhere in the chapter. The phrase le-tziv'otam ("according to their military groups") uses the plural of the same root that appears singular later as tzeva'o ("its military group"), shifting from the general organizational structure of Judah's camp to the specific division placed under Nahshon's authority, marked by the preposition 'al ("over").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders yissa' (singular, "it set out") with the plural verb exēran ("they set out"), shifting the grammatical subject from the standard to the people. It also translates degel as tagma ("order/unit") rather than "standard," and 'al-tzeva'o ("over its military group") as epi tēs dynameōs autōn ("over their force"), using a plural possessive where the Hebrew has a singular suffix. The Vulgate omits an explicit finite verb for movement in this clause, opening instead with "Filii Juda per turmas suas" ("The sons of Judah by their troops"), and expresses command with "quorum princeps erat" ("whose leader was"), a periphrastic construction not present in the Hebrew's prepositional phrase 'al-tzeva'o.