Numbers 21:28

כִּי־אֵשׁ יָֽצְאָה מֵֽחֶשְׁבּוֹן לֶהָבָה מִקִּרְיַת סִיחֹן אָֽכְלָה עָר מוֹאָב בַּעֲלֵי בָּמוֹת אַרְנֹֽן׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

כִּי־אֵשׁ֙ יָֽצְאָ֣ה מֵֽחֶשְׁבּ֔וֹן לֶהָבָ֖ה מִקִּרְיַ֣ת סִיחֹ֑ן אָֽכְלָה֙ עָ֣ר מוֹאָ֔ב בַּעֲלֵ֖י בָּמ֥וֹת אַרְנֹֽן׃

Greek (Septuagint)

ὅτι πῦρ ἐξῆλθεν ἐξ Ἑσεβών, φλὸξ ἐκ πόλεως Σηών· καὶ κατέφαγεν ἕως Μωάβ,

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

ignis egressus est de Hesebon, flamma de oppido Sehon, et devoravit Ar Moabitarum, et habitatores excelsorum Arnon.

Spanish

Porque de Hesbón salió un fuego, una llama de la ciudad de Sehón, que devoró a Ar de Moab y a los señores de las colinas del Arnón.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Que fuego salió de Hesbón, y llama de la ciudad de Sehón, y consumió á Ar de Moab, á los señores de los altos de Arnón.

English

For a fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the rulers of Arnon’s heights.

✦ What the text says

Summary

The verse describes a poetic saying about destruction: fire and flame emerge from Heshbon and the city of Sihon, consuming Ar of Moab and "the lords of the heights of Arnon." The parallel structure (fire/flame, went out/consumed) is characteristic of Hebrew victory poetry embedded in the narrative.

Key words

'esh ("fire", H0784) — feminine singular noun, subject of the first clause, paired poetically with leha.Vah ("flame") in the next line.
ya.tze.'Ah ("it went out", H3318L) — qal perfect, third person feminine singular, agreeing with 'esh; the perfect aspect marks the action as completed.
'a.khe.Lah ("it consumed", H0398) — qal perfect, third person feminine singular, agreeing grammatically with leha.Vah ("flame") as the acting subject that devours.
ba.'a.Lei ("[the] citizens/lords of", H1167K) — masculine plural construct of ba'al, forming a construct chain with ba.Mot ("high places of") — literally "lords/masters of the high places."
ba.Mot ("[the] high places of", H1116) — feminine plural construct, itself governed by ba.'a.Lei and followed by 'ar.Non ("Arnon"), completing the construct chain "lords of the high places of Arnon."

What the text says

The verse is built on a tight parallelism: line one has 'esh ("fire") ya.tze.'Ah ("went out") me.Chesh.Bon ("from Heshbon"), matched by leha.Vah ("flame") mi.Kir.Yat Si.Chon ("from the city of Sihon") — the second line omits a repeated verb, relying on the first verb ya.tze.'Ah to carry over by ellipsis, a common feature of Hebrew poetic parallelism.

The second half shifts to the verb 'a.khe.Lah ("it consumed"), whose grammatical subject is the feminine leha.Vah ("flame") from the prior line, governing two objects joined without a conjunction: 'Ar Mo.'Av ("Ar of Moab") and the construct phrase ba.'a.Lei ba.Mot 'Ar.Non ("lords of the high places of Arnon"). This three-word construct chain (ba.'a.Lei + ba.Mot + 'Ar.Non) stacks two layers of construct relationship, producing the sense "the masters/possessors of the high places belonging to Arnon" — the Hebrew groups people (ba.'a.Lei, "lords/possessors") together with the geographic term ba.Mot ("high places") as objects consumed by the fire.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) renders ba.'a.Lei ba.Mot 'Ar.Non as "habitatores excelsorum Arnon" ("inhabitants of the heights of Arnon"), interpreting ba.'a.Lei ("lords/possessors") as "inhabitants" rather than the more literal "masters/owners." The LXX (Swete) shortens the final clause to "κατέφαγεν ἕως Μωάβ" ("consumed as far as Moab"), omitting an explicit rendering of ba.'a.Lei ba.Mot 'Ar.Non found in the Hebrew and Vulgate. The BSB and SBLIBRE keep closer to the Hebrew construct chain, translating ba.'a.Lei as "rulers" or "señores" ("lords").

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.