Numbers 2:18
דֶּגֶל מַחֲנֵה אֶפְרַיִם לְצִבְאֹתָם יָמָּה וְנָשִׂיא לִבְנֵי אֶפְרַיִם אֱלִישָׁמָע בֶּן־עַמִּיהֽוּד׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
דֶּ֣גֶל מַחֲנֵ֥ה אֶפְרַ֛יִם לְצִבְאֹתָ֖ם יָ֑מָּה וְנָשִׂיא֙ לִבְנֵ֣י אֶפְרַ֔יִם אֱלִישָׁמָ֖ע בֶּן־עַמִּיהֽוּד׃
Τάγμα παρεμβολῆς Ἐφράιμ παρὰ θάλασσαν σὺν δυνάμει αὐτῶν, καὶ ὁ τῶν υἱῶν Ἐφράιμ ’Eλεισαμὰ υἱὸς Ἐμιούδ·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Ad occidentalem plagam erunt castra filiorum Ephraim, quorum princeps fuit Elisama filius Ammiud.
“En el lado oeste estará la bandera del campamento de Efraín, según sus divisiones. El líder de los hijos de Efraín será Elisama, hijo de Amiud.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
La bandera del ejército de Ephraim por sus escuadrones, al occidente: y el jefe de los hijos de Ephraim, Elisama hijo de Ammiud;
On the west side, the divisions of Ephraim are to camp under their standard: The leader of the Ephraimites is Elishama son of Ammihud,
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse assigns the western side of the camp arrangement to the tribe of Ephraim, identifying its military divisions and naming Elishama son of Ammihud as the leader of the Ephraimites.
Key words
- Degel ("the standard of", H1714) — construct noun opening the verse, linking "standard" to "camp of Ephraim" in a chain of possession.
- machaNeh ("camp of", H4264) — feminine construct noun continuing the construct chain: "standard of the camp of Ephraim."
- Yamah ("westward", H3220H) — masculine singular noun with the directional he suffix (H9011), indicating direction toward the west rather than simple location.
- nasi' ("the leader", H5387A) — masculine singular noun introducing the named individual who holds this office over the sons of Ephraim.
- ben ("the son of", H1121A) — construct noun linking Elishama to his father Ammihud, forming the patronymic.
What the text says
The verse opens with a triple construct chain: degel ("standard of") + machaneh ("camp of") + Ephraim, meaning "the standard of the camp of Ephraim." This is followed by le-tziv'otam ("to their military groups", H6635A with pronominal suffix H9028), specifying that the arrangement applies according to Ephraim's divisions. The directional form yamah (H3220H + H9011) marks the compass orientation — westward — as the assigned position for this camp, without a separate verb; the noun with directional suffix itself carries the sense of "toward the west."
The second half of the verse shifts to naming the leadership: ve-nasi' ("and the leader") introduces a nominal clause identifying the office-holder "for the sons of Ephraim" (li-vnei Ephraim, using the construct form v'nei, H1121G). The name Elisham'a (H0476G) is then given, followed by the patronymic construct ben-Ammihud ("son of Ammihud", H1121A + H5989G). The Hebrew has no explicit verb "to be" in either clause; the west-orientation and the leadership identification are both conveyed through nominal syntax alone, which translations render with an implied "will be" or "is."
Differences between versions
The LXX renders degel ("standard") as Tagma ("order/division") and yamah ("westward") as para thalassan ("by the sea"), a geographic rather than compass-directional phrasing. The Vulgate similarly uses occidentalem plagam ("the western region") for the directional yamah, and structures the leadership clause with quorum princeps fuit ("whose leader was"), inserting an explicit past-tense verb absent from the Hebrew's verbless nominal construction.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.