Numbers 2:17

Summary

The verse states that the Tent of Meeting, together with the camp of the Levites, will travel positioned in the middle of the other camps. It specifies that the order of departure will mirror the order of encampment, with each person moving according to his own position under his group's standard.

Key words

na.Sa' ("it will set out", H5265) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative sequence begun in the preceding verses; grammatically it links this verse to the prior description of camp order as the next event in the march sequence.

'o.hel- ("tent of", H0168G) — construct form, meaning it cannot stand alone but requires the following noun mo.'Ed ("meeting", H4150I) to complete the phrase "tent of meeting."

ma.cha.Neh ("camp of", H4264) — construct form joining to ha.l.vi.Yim ("the Levites", H3881), producing "the camp of the Levites," a specific subgroup within the larger arrangement of tribal camps.

ya.cha.Nu ("they will encamp", H2583) / yi.Sa.'u ("they will set out", H5265) — both qal imperfect, expressing ongoing or habitual future action; their parallel placement with ka.'a.Sher ("as", H0834D) and ken ("so", H3651C) creates the comparative structure "just as... so...".

ya.D ("hand of", H3027I) — construct form with the suffix o ("his", H9023), producing the idiom 'ish 'al-ya.Do ("each on his hand/place"), meaning each person at his own designated position.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the sequential verb na.Sa', marking this as the next step in a described procession. The subject is a double construct chain: 'o.hel-mo.'Ed ("tent of meeting") followed by ma.cha.Neh ha.l.vi.Yim ("camp of the Levites"), syntactically presenting these as parallel or closely associated subjects of the same verb of movement. The prepositional phrase be.Tokh ha.ma.cha.Not ("in the middle of the camps") specifies the physical position during travel — construct Tokh ("middle of") governs the plural ma.cha.Not ("camps").

The second half of the verse uses a correlative structure built from ka.'a.Sher... ken ("just as... so"), pairing the imperfect verbs ya.cha.Nu ("they will encamp") and yi.Sa.'u ("they will set out"). Both verbs share the same imperfect aspect, indicating habitual or repeated future action — the pattern of encamping determines the pattern of departing. The final clause, 'ish 'al-ya.Do le.dig.lei.Hem ("each on his hand/place, according to their standards"), uses the singular distributive 'ish ("each," H0376I) with the construct ya.D plus suffix, an idiom denoting individual position, followed by le.dig.lei.Hem, a construct plural ("standards of") with a third-person plural suffix ("their"), indicating group-based banners or divisions.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'o.hel-mo.'Ed as ἡ σκηνὴ τοῦ μαρτυρίου ("the tent of the testimony"), differing slightly from the Hebrew "tent of meeting" (mo.'Ed relates to appointed meeting, not testimony). The Vulgate similarly uses "tabernaculum testimonii" ("tabernacle of the testimony"), following the same interpretive tradition as the LXX rather than the Hebrew's "meeting."