Numbers 32:35

Summary

This verse continues a list (begun in Numbers 32:34) of towns that the tribe of Gad rebuilt in the territory east of the Jordan. It names four locations — Atroth-shophan, Jazer, and Jogbehah — using the direct object marker to link them as objects of the verb "they built" found in the preceding verses.

Key words

• 'Et ("", H0853) — the direct object marker, appearing twice (positions 2 and 6); it signals that these place names are grammatical objects of a verb located earlier in the sentence sequence (Numbers 32:34's "they built"), not the subject of a new clause here.
• 'at.Rot ("Atroth", H5855) — a proper noun in construct-like juxtaposition with the following word, without an intervening conjunction, suggesting the two terms function as a single compound toponym.
• sho.Fan ("Shophan", H5855) — listed immediately after 'at.Rot with no conjunction ve ("and") between them, unlike the other place names in the verse, which are joined by ve.
• ve. ("and", H9002) — the conjunction appears three times, joining 'at.Rot Shofan to Ya'zer, and Ya'zer to Yagbohah; its absence between 'at.Rot and sho.Fan is grammatically significant.
• ya.ge.bo.Hah ("Jogbehah", H3011) — the final item in the list, marked with ve but without the object marker 'et, a common variation in Hebrew lists of this kind.

What the text says

The verse consists entirely of proper nouns with no verb of its own; it depends syntactically on the verb governing the list that began in the prior verse. The pattern alternates between the object marker 'et (used before 'at.Rot Shofan and before Ya'zer) and the simple conjunction ve (joining Ya'zer to Yagbohah, and internally linking the list). Grammatically important is the absence of ve between 'at.Rot ("Atroth", H5855) and sho.Fan ("Shophan", H5855): the two words stand side by side without a connector, which is why they are typically read together as one compound place name, "Atroth-shophan," rather than as two separate towns joined by "and."

Differences between versions

The Hebrew's asyndetic juxtaposition of 'at.Rot and sho.Fan (no "and" between them) is reflected differently across versions. The Vulgate (VULCLEM) inserts "et" between them — "et Etroth, et Sophan" — treating them as two distinct towns rather than one compound name, yielding four separate places instead of three. The LXX (LXXSWETE) omits "Atroth" entirely, rendering only "τήν Σωφὰρ" ("Sophar"), and adds the clause "καὶ ὕψωσαν αὐτάς" ("and they raised/built them up"), a verbal phrase with no corresponding Hebrew word in this verse. Modern translations (BSB, RV1909, SBLIBRE) follow the Hebrew's compound reading, rendering "Atroth-shophan" (or "Atarot-sofán") as a single name.