Numbers 32:1

Summary

Numbers 32:1 opens the account of the Reubenites and Gadites by noting they possessed very large amounts of livestock. When they saw the lands of Jazer and Gilead, they observed that this territory was suitable for such livestock.

Key words

• mikneh ("livestock", H4735) — appears twice (lines 2 and 28), framing the verse; a masculine singular noun denoting herds/flocks as a collective.
• rav ("much", H7227A) and 'atzum me'od ("very numerous", H6099 + H3966) — two adjectival expressions in parallel, both modifying the livestock of Reuben and of Gad respectively, intensifying the description of abundance.
• va-yir'u ("and they saw", H7200G) — qal narrative form with the narrative vav, marking the next event in sequence: the tribes' visual assessment of the land.
• hineh ("there!", H2009) — interjection introducing a vivid, direct observation, shifting the narrative into the perspective of those looking at the land.
• meqom mikneh ("place of livestock", H4725 construct + H4735) — a construct chain repeating maqom ("place") from the preceding word, forming the phrase "the place was a place for livestock."

What the text says

The verse divides into two linked statements joined by the narrative vav on va-yir'u. The first statement uses hayah ("it belonged", H1961) with a double subject constructed through two prepositional phrases: li-vnei Re'uven ("to the sons of Reuben") and ve-li-vnei Gad ("and to the sons of Gad"), each paired with its own adjective — rav for Reuben's livestock, 'atzum me'od for Gad's. This creates a balanced parallel structure describing the wealth of both groups without merging them into a single grammatical subject.

The second statement shifts to narrative action: the tribes "saw" (va-yir'u) two named territories, 'Eretz Ya'zer and 'Eretz Gil'ad, both marked by the direct object marker 'et. The clause culminates in hineh ha-maqom meqom mikneh, where the noun maqom ("place") is used twice — first with the definite article, then in construct with mikneh. This repetition is a feature of the Hebrew construct chain and functions to give the observation a declarative, almost exclamatory force: "look, the place is a place of livestock," rather than simply stating a quality of the land.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate expands the first clause, adding "infinita substantia" ("infinite property/substance") not present as a separate lexical item in the Hebrew, and renders mikneh as "pecora" and "jumentis" (cattle/beasts of burden) rather than a single repeated noun. The LXX text as given begins directly with "καὶ ἴδον τὴν χώραν" ("and they saw the land"), corresponding to the second half of the Hebrew verse, and does not display the opening clause about the livestock belonging to Reuben and Gad in this excerpt. The LXX also renders the doubled Hebrew maqom / meqom mikneh with a single repeated Greek noun, τόπος τόπος κτήνεσιν ("place, a place for cattle"), mirroring the Hebrew repetition rather than smoothing it into one clause as the Vulgate and some modern translations do.