Numbers 33:14

Summary

The verse records two stages in the Israelites' itinerary: departure from Alush and encampment at Rephidim. It then notes that at Rephidim there was no water available for the people to drink.

Key words

• va-yis'u ("and they set out", H5265) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine plural, marking sequential action in the itinerary chain ("and then they set out").
• va-yachanu ("and they encamped", H2583) — qal narrative verb, same person/number pattern, continuing the chain of successive travel stops.
• hayah ("it belonged / it was", H1961) — qal perfect, third person masculine singular, expressing a completed state; here negated to indicate absence.
• mayim ("water", H4325) — masculine plural noun, the subject of the negated existential clause.
• lishtot ("to drink", H8354) — qal infinitive, expressing purpose ("in order to drink"), attached to the clause about the people.

What the text says

The verse follows the standard itinerary formula seen throughout Numbers 33: a narrative verb of departure (va-yis'u, "they set out") paired with a preposition indicating the place left (me-Alush, "from Alush"), followed by a narrative verb of arrival (va-yachanu, "they encamped") paired with a preposition indicating the new location (bi-Rephidim, "at Rephidim"). This two-part structure is chained by the narrative vav, producing a continuous sequence of movement typical of the chapter's travel log.

The second half of the verse shifts from narrative sequence to a stative description introduced by ve-lo, "and not." The verb hayah ("it belonged," here better understood as "there was") appears in the perfect, negated, to assert that water (mayim) did not exist "there" (sham) for the people (la-'am, "to/for the people"). The infinitive lishtot ("to drink") completes this clause by specifying the purpose for which the water was absent — it defines the intended use (drinking) rather than describing an action already performed. The grammatical construction lo hayah mayim la-'am lishtot is an existential negation with a dative-purpose infinitive, a structure common in Biblical Hebrew for expressing lack of a resource for a specific need.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the departure point as Aileim ("Ailim"), while the Hebrew text has Alush (H0442). The Vulgate follows the Hebrew reading with Alus, matching the Masoretic place name rather than the LXX's Aileim.