Numbers 21:19

Summary

This verse continues the itinerary of Israel's journey, listing a sequence of stopping points introduced by the preposition "from": from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth. The Hebrew text consists entirely of proper place names joined by conjunctions and prepositions, without any verb.

Key words

• u ("and", H9002) — the conjunction prefixed twice, linking the place names into a continuous chain of stations.
• mi ("from", H9006) — the preposition min in shortened prefixed form, attached to each place name to mark the starting point of movement.
• Mattanah (H4980) — proper name of a place, first station named in this verse.
• Nahaliel (H5160) — proper name of a place, appearing twice: once as destination (after mi-Mattanah) and once as starting point (before Bamot).
• Bamot (H1120G) — proper name of a place, the final station named in this verse, appearing without any prefixed preposition of destination.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence has no finite verb; it is a bare sequence of toponyms connected by u ("and", H9002) and mi ("from", H9006). The structure is: u-mi-Mattanah Nahaliel, u-mi-Nahaliel Bamot — literally "and from Mattanah, Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel, Bamot." The preposition "from" is explicitly marked before each starting point, but there is no equivalent Hebrew preposition meaning "to" before the destinations (Nahaliel in the first clause, Bamot in the second). The destination is simply juxtaposed after the "from" phrase, and Hebrew grammar allows the sense of movement toward that place to be understood without a separate preposition.

This creates a terse, list-like rhythm typical of itinerary notices in the Torah, where place names are strung together with minimal syntax. The repetition of Nahaliel (H5160) in two different grammatical roles — first as an unmarked destination, then as a mi-marked origin — links the two halves of the verse into a continuous chain of travel stations.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) inserts the preposition εἰς ("to/into") before each destination — εἰς μαναήλ, εἰς Βαμώθ — making explicit a directional sense that the Hebrew leaves unmarked. The Vulgate similarly adds "in" before each destination ("in Nahaliel," "in Bamoth"), matching the LXX's explicit marking of destination rather than reproducing the Hebrew's asyndetic juxtaposition. The Hebrew mi is only marked for points of departure, not arrival, while both LXX and Vulgate mark both departure and arrival prepositions.