Numbers 2:10

Summary

The verse assigns the southern position (teimanah, H8486) to the degel ("standard/banner", H1714) of the camp of Reuben, organized le-tziv'otam ("according to their military groups", H6635A), and names Elizur son of Shedeur as the nasi ("leader", H5387A) of the descendants of Reuben.

Key words

• Degel ("standard of", H1714) — masculine singular construct noun, opening the verse in construct with "camp of Reuben," indicating the banner/military unit belongs to that camp.
• Teimanah ("south", H8486) + directional he (H9011) — the noun for "south" takes the directional suffix, giving the sense "southward, toward the south," specifying orientation rather than mere location.
• Tziv'otam ("their military groups", H6635A) — feminine plural construct with pronominal suffix "their" (H9028), indicating the internal subdivisions of Reuben's camp are organized as multiple tzeva'ot units.
• Nasi' ("leader", H5387A) — masculine singular noun without construct marking itself, but followed by li-vnei Re'uven ("of the descendants of Reuben", H1121G + H7205) via the preposition le- (H9005), identifying whose leader this is.
• Ben ("son of", H1121A) — masculine singular construct noun linking Elizur to his father Shedeur (H7707), the standard patronymic formula.

What the text says

The verse opens with a construct chain: degel ("standard of") + machaneh ("camp of", H4264) + Re'uven ("Reuben") — three nouns stacked in construct relationship, meaning "the standard of the camp of Reuben." This chain functions as the grammatical subject, and the predicate follows as teimanah, "southward," using the directional he suffix rather than a separate preposition to indicate direction. The phrase le-tziv'otam ("according to their military groups") uses the preposition le- (H9005) in a distributive sense, showing that the camp's position applies unit by unit.

The second half of the verse shifts to naming the individual leader. Ve-nasi' ("and [the] leader") introduces a new clause connected by the conjunction ve- (H9002). The identity of whose leader is specified through li-vnei Re'uven ("of the descendants of Reuben"), where the preposition le- attaches to the construct noun vnei ("descendants of," H1121G) plus "Reuben." The leader's name, Elitzur (H0468), is then given with his patronymic ben Shedeur ("son of Shedeur"), following the standard Hebrew naming convention of construct noun + proper name.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders degel as tagma ("military unit/formation") and machaneh as parembolē ("camp"), producing "Tagma parembolēs Rouben" — a phrasing that shifts the emphasis slightly from "standard of the camp" to "formation of the camp." The LXX also translates teimanah with pros liba ("toward the southwest wind"), a directional term tied to Greek wind-naming conventions rather than a direct cardinal "south." The Vulgate omits an explicit equivalent for degel ("standard") altogether, beginning instead with in castris filiorum Ruben ("in the camp of the sons of Reuben"), collapsing the construct chain into a simpler prepositional phrase.