Numbers 20:22

Summary

The verse narrates two consecutive movements of the Israelites: their departure from Kadesh and their arrival, as a complete community, at Mount Hor. The sentence uses two verbs in narrative sequence, marking a clear before/after structure in the itinerary.

Key words

• yisʿu ("they set out", H5265) — qal verb in narrative form, indicating a completed sequential action ("and then they set out").
• Kadesh (H6946G) — proper name marking the starting point of the movement, governed by the preposition mi ("from", H9006).
• yavoʾu ("they came", H0935G) — second narrative verb, parallel in form to yisʿu, marking the resulting action ("and then they came").
• kol-haʿedah ("all the congregation", H3605 + H5712) — construct phrase specifying that the entire community, not a portion of it, is the subject.
• Hor hahar ("Hor, the mountain", H2023G + H2022G) — the destination, built as the proper name Hor followed by ha-har ("the mountain") with the definite article.

What the text says

The verse is built on two parallel narrative verbs, yisʿu ("they set out", H5265) and yavoʾu ("they came", H0935G), both introduced by the narrative va ("and", H9001). This vav-consecutive chain produces a simple sequential reading: departure, then arrival, without additional temporal markers needed in Hebrew grammar itself.

The subject of the second verb is expanded in apposition: bene Yisraʾel ("the people of Israel", H1121G + H3478) is immediately followed by kol-haʿedah ("all the congregation", H3605 + H9009 + H5712). This construction emphasizes totality — the construct kol ("all", H3605) governs haʿedah ("the congregation", H5712), reinforcing that the movement involved the whole assembly, not a subgroup.

The destination, Hor hahar, places the proper name Hor directly before ha-har ("the mountain", H9009 + H2022G), a naming pattern where the toponym is followed by the defined common noun that identifies its type of feature.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate adds a geographical clause not present in the Hebrew word list given: "qui est in finibus terrae Edom" ("which is in the borders of the land of Edom"). This is additional locating information absent from the Hebrew text and from the LXX rendering, which reads simply "εἰς Ὣρ τὸ ὄρος" ("to Hor, the mountain"), structurally mirroring the Hebrew Hor hahar.