Numbers 3:23

Summary

The verse assigns the Gershonite clans their camping position relative to the tabernacle: they are to pitch their tents behind it, on the western side. The sentence is a short administrative instruction naming the group, the reference point, and the compass direction.

Key words

• mishpechot ("clans of", H4940) — feminine plural construct, marking the clans of the Gershonites as the grammatical subject that governs the following gentilic.
• ha-Gershuni ("the Gershonite", H1649) — a gentilic singular form (referring to the group collectively as "the Gershonite [people]"), joined to mishpechot in a construct chain: "clans of the Gershonite."
• acharei ("behind", H0310A) — construct form used spatially here, linking to ha-mishkan to express position relative to the tabernacle rather than temporal sequence.
• ha-mishkan ("the tabernacle", H4908) — definite singular noun, the fixed reference point around which the camp is organized.
• yachanu ("they will encamp", H2583) — Qal imperfect, third person masculine plural, expressing an action presented as ongoing or prescribed (a standing instruction) rather than a single completed event.
• yamah ("westward", H3220H + H9011) — the noun for "sea/west" combined with the directional he suffix, which converts the noun into an adverbial "toward the west."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence places the subject phrase mishpechot ha-Gershuni first, followed by the locative phrase acharei ha-mishkan, then the verb yachanu, and finally the directional yamah. This word order foregrounds who is being positioned before stating the verb of action, a common pattern in these Numbers census-and-camp instructions. The directional he on yamah is grammatically significant: it turns the plain noun "sea" (yam) into "toward the sea," which functionally means "westward" in the geographic orientation of the text, since the Mediterranean Sea lies to the west of the land in view.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders mishpechot ("clans of") as υἱοὶ ("sons of"), shifting the kinship term from collective clan-grouping to direct sonship. The LXX also translates yamah literally as παρὰ θάλασσαν ("beside the sea"), preserving the base meaning of yam ("sea") rather than the directional sense. The Vulgate instead renders it as ad occidentem ("toward the west"), matching the directional function that the Hebrew he suffix conveys grammatically. Both the BSB and Reina-Valera/SBLIBRE Spanish versions also render it as a compass direction ("west"/"oeste") rather than literally as "sea."