Numbers 32:36

Summary

The verse lists two additional place names — Beit Nimrah and Beit Haran — rebuilt or fortified by the tribes settling in the Transjordan region, describing them as fortified cities equipped with sheepfolds.

Key words

• beit ("Beth", H1039/H1028) — construct form meaning "house of," used here as the first element of two place names, Beit Nimrah and Beit Haran.
• 'et (H0853) — the direct object marker, appearing twice before each place name, showing that these cities are objects of a verb from the preceding context (the building/fortifying action described earlier in the chapter).
• 'arei ("cities of", H5892B) — masculine plural construct form, linking directly to the following noun mivtzar to form the phrase "cities of fortification."
• mivtzar ("fortification", H4013) — singular noun in construct relationship with 'arei, together yielding "fortified cities."
• gidrot ("folds of", H1448) — feminine plural construct form, paired with tzon to form "folds of sheep" (sheepfolds), paralleling the structure of "cities of fortification."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is a continuation of a list, built entirely on construct chains and object markers rather than finite verbs. Each place name — Beit Nimrah and Beit Haran — is introduced by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002) followed by the direct object marker 'et, indicating that these names are grammatical objects carried over from a verb earlier in the passage (the building/fortifying action mentioned in the surrounding verses of Numbers 32). The verse itself contains no verb; it is a noun list, structurally parallel to a catalog entry.

The final phrase splits into two construct pairs: 'arei mivtzar ("cities of fortification") and gidrot tzon ("folds of sheep"). Both use the construct state, where the first noun ('arei, gidrot) is grammatically bound to the second (mivtzar, tzon) to express a descriptive relationship — "fortified cities" and "sheepfolds." This construction attaches a qualifying description to the preceding place names without needing an independent clause.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Beit Nimrah as Ναμράμ (Namram) rather than transliterating "Beth" as a separate element, and gives Beit Haran as τὴν Βαιθαράν (a single compound name), differing from the Hebrew's two-part beit + place-name structure. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew's two-part naming more closely with Bethnemra and Betharan. The Hebrew has no explicit verb in this verse, while the BSB and SBLIBRE English/Spanish translations insert "they built" or similar verbs not present in the Hebrew text itself, to convey the implied action carried from the preceding verses.