Numbers 33:1
אֵלֶּה מַסְעֵי בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר יָצְאוּ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לְצִבְאֹתָם בְּיַד־מֹשֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹֽן׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
אֵ֜לֶּה מַסְעֵ֣י בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָצְא֛וּ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם לְצִבְאֹתָ֑ם בְּיַד־מֹשֶׁ֖ה וְאַהֲרֹֽן׃
Καὶ οὗτοι σταθμοὶ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ, ὡς ἐξῆλθον ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου σὺν δυνάμει αὐτῶν ἐν χειρὶ Μωυσῆ καὶ Ἀαρών·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Hæ sunt mansiones filiorum Israël, qui egressi sunt de Ægypto per turmas suas in manu Moysi et Aaron,
Este es el registro de los viajes que hicieron los hijos de Israel al salir de la tierra de Egipto, ordenados por escuadrones, bajo el mando de Moisés y Aarón.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
ESTAS son las estancias de los hijos de Israel, los cuales salieron de la tierra de Egipto por sus escuadrones, bajo la conducta de Moisés y Aarón.
These are the journeys of the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt by their divisions under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Numbers 33:1 opens a list by identifying it as the record of the masa ("settings out/journeys", H4550) of the Israelites who departed from Egypt. The verse specifies that they left organized le-tziv'otam ("by their military groups", H6635A) and under the authority of Moses and Aaron.
Key words
- 'Elleh ("these", H0428) — demonstrative particle opening the verse, pointing forward to the list of stations that follows in the chapter.
- mas'ei ("settings out of", H4550) — masculine plural construct noun; the construct form links it directly to "the sons of Israel," meaning literally "the departures/journeys of the sons of Israel."
- yatze'u ("they came out", H3318G) — qal perfect, third person plural; a completed action verb describing the exodus from Egypt as a finished historical event.
- tziv'otam ("their military groups", H6635A) — feminine plural construct noun with third person masculine plural suffix ("their"); denotes organized companies or hosts.
- be-yad ("by the hand of", H3027H) — singular construct noun with the preposition be- ("by/in"); idiomatically expresses agency or authority, here attributing leadership to Moses and Aaron.
What the text says
The verse is a superscription: it names the following list as mas'ei ("journeys/departures") of bnei Yisra'el ("the sons/people of Israel", H1121G construct with H3478). The construct chain mas'ei bnei Yisra'el ("settings-out of the sons of Israel") ties the noun for "journeys" directly to the people, without an intervening preposition — a typical Hebrew construct relationship rendered in English with "of."
The relative clause introduced by 'asher ("who", H0834A) modifies "the sons of Israel," specifying which group is meant: those who yatze'u ("came out") me-'eretz Mitzrayim ("from the land of Egypt", H0776G construct with H4714G). The verb is in the qal perfect, marking the exodus as a completed action from the narrator's vantage point.
The phrase le-tziv'otam ("by/according to their military groups") uses the preposition le- to indicate manner or organization — the people did not leave as an undifferentiated mass but grouped in tziv'ot ("hosts, companies"). Finally, be-yad Mosheh ve-Aharon ("by the hand of Moses and Aaron") uses the idiom "hand" (yad, H3027H) to express agency, indicating that the departure occurred under their direction.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders be-yad ("by the hand of") with ἐν χειρὶ ("in [the] hand of"), a literal equivalent preserving the Hebrew idiom. The Vulgate similarly uses in manu ("in the hand"), matching the Hebrew construction. For tziv'otam ("their military groups"), the LXX has σὺν δυνάμει αὐτῶν ("with their power/host"), while the Vulgate uses per turmas suas ("through their troops"); both render the plural Hebrew noun with singular collective expressions in Greek and Latin respectively.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.