Numbers 10:6

Summary

This verse describes the second trumpet signal for breaking camp: when the alarm blast (teru'ah, H8643) sounds a second time, the camps stationed to the south begin their march. The final clause makes explicit that the blast itself serves as the signal for setting out.

Key words

• teka'tem ("you will give a blast", H8628) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative sequence begun in the surrounding verses about trumpet signals.
• teru'ah ("an alarm", H8643) — feminine singular noun, referring to a specific type of trumpet sound distinct from a simple blast.
• na'seu ("they will set out", H5265) — qal sequential perfect, parallel in form to teka'tem, linking the sounding of the trumpet directly to the camps' movement.
• choniym ("encamp", H2583) — qal participle, describing an ongoing state ("the ones who are encamping") rather than a completed action, used to identify the southern camps by their current position.
• yitke'u ("they will give a blast", H8628) — qal imperfect, shifting from the sequential perfect used earlier to a general or repeated future action, summarizing the rule for all future departures.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence moves through two sequential perfects — teka'tem and na'seu — which continue a chain of narrated instructions: the blowing of the trumpet leads directly to the camps' departure. The subject of na'seu is ha-machanot ha-choniym teimanah ("the camps that are encamping southward"), where choniym as a participle presents the southern camps not as a fixed designation but as those currently occupying that position, tied to the directional suffix -ah on teimanah ("south", H8486) indicating movement toward or orientation to that direction.

The final clause, teru'ah yitke'u lemas'eihem ("an alarm they will blow for their settings-out"), uses the imperfect yitke'u rather than a perfect, marking a shift from narrating a specific past sequence to stating a general procedural rule: the teru'ah is the designated signal for departure (mas'ei, H4550, construct plural "settings-out") in general, not only for this instance.

Differences between versions

The LXX introduces additional geographic terms not present in the Hebrew word-by-word data, referring to camps "by the sea" (παρὰ θάλασσαν) and "toward the north" (πρὸς βορρᾶν), and labels the signal "fourth" (τετάρτην) rather than matching the Hebrew's "second" (sheniyt, H8145) for this single clause — the Greek text as given appears to compress multiple directional instructions into one verse. The Vulgate adds "et juxta hunc modum reliqui facient" ("and the rest will do likewise"), a summarizing clause not reflected in the Hebrew word list, generalizing the instruction beyond the southern camp alone.