Numbers 21:24

Summary

Israel struck down the Amorite king (Sihon, referenced by the suffix "him") with the sword and took possession of his territory from the Arnon to the Jabbok, stopping at the border of the Ammonites, because that border was described as strong or fortified.

Key words

• va-yakEhu ("and it struck him", H5221) — hiphil narrative verb with 3ms pronominal suffix hu ("him"); the hiphil stem indicates a causative "striking down," and the narrative vav sequences the action as the next event after the preceding verse.
• yiyRash ("it took possession of", H3423H) — qal narrative verb, also sequenced by the narrative vav; describes taking possession as a direct consequence of the military strike.
• le-fi-Charev ("to the mouth of the sword", H6310H + H2719) — construct phrase literally "mouth of sword," an idiom for being struck by the blade.
• ad ("to/until", H5704) — repeated preposition marking the geographic boundaries (Arnon, Jabbok, sons of Ammon) of the conquered territory.
• az ("strong", H5794) — masculine singular adjective describing gevul ("border of", H1366G), the quality attributed to the border of the Ammonites that halted the advance.

What the text says

The verse opens with two narrative-sequenced verbs (marked by the va- prefix), which in Biblical Hebrew narrative chain events in temporal sequence: first va-yakEhu ("and it struck him"), then va-yiyRash ("and it took possession"). The subject of both verbs is Yisra'El ("Israel", H3478), and the object of the first verb is a pronominal suffix hu ("him") referring back to the king mentioned in the preceding context. The phrase le-fi-Charev uses the construct noun fi ("mouth of", H6310H) governing Charev ("sword", H2719) — a fixed idiomatic construction meaning to be struck down violently by a blade.

The second clause describes the extent of the territorial acquisition using three prepositional markers of "to/until" (ad, H5704), tracing a geographic line from Arnon to Yabok to benei Ammon ("sons of Ammon"). The clause is closed by a causal particle ki ("for", H3588A) introducing the reason for the stopping point: az gevul benei Ammon — "strong [was] the border of the sons of Ammon." The adjective az ("strong", H5794) stands in a predicate position before its subject gevul ("border of", H1366G), a common Hebrew syntactic order where the adjective precedes the noun it describes in a verbless clause.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the causal clause differently, introducing a place name: "ὅτι Ἰαζὴρ ὅρια υἱῶν Ἀμμών ἐστιν" ("for Jazer is the border of the sons of Ammon"), where the Hebrew has the adjective az ("strong", H5794) rather than a place name. The Vulgate interprets the same clause as "forti praesidio tenebantur termini Ammonitarum" ("the borders of the Ammonites were held by a strong garrison"), expanding the adjective az into a description of fortified defense, an interpretation followed by the BSB ("because it was fortified") and SBLIBRE ("estaba bien fortificada").