Numbers 33:22

Summary

The verse records one stage in the wilderness itinerary of the Israelites: departure from the place called Rissah and encampment at Kehelathah. It follows the standard two-verb formula used throughout Numbers 33 to list stations of the journey.

Key words

• va-yis'u ("and they set out", H5265) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine plural, marking sequential action ("and then they set out"); the narrative vav links this stage to the preceding one.
• mi-Rissah ("from Rissah", H7446) — proper noun with the preposition me ("from", H9006), naming the point of departure.
• va-yachanu ("and they encamped", H2583) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine plural, parallel in form to va-yis'u, forming the recurring "set out / encamped" pair of the itinerary.
• bi-Qehelathah ("at Kehelathah", H6954) — proper noun with the preposition bi ("at/in", H9003), naming the point of arrival.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built on two parallel narrative clauses, each consisting of a vav-prefixed qal verb followed by a place name introduced by a preposition. The first clause, va-yis'u me-Rissah ("and they set out from Rissah"), reports departure using the preposition me ("from") to mark the point of origin. The second clause, va-yachanu bi-Qehelathah ("and they encamped at Kehelathah"), reports arrival using the preposition bi ("at" or "in") to mark the point of settlement. Both verbs are third-person masculine plural, referring to the unnamed collective subject (the people) already established earlier in the itinerary list, so no separate subject noun appears in this verse.

This structure — departure verb + "from" + place, arrival verb + "at/in" + place — is repeated with minor variation throughout Numbers 33, and the verse itself contributes no additional information beyond the two toponyms and the two verbs of motion and settlement. The grammar does not indicate duration of stay, distance, or reason for the move; it only records sequence.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew place names Rissah (H7446) and Qehelathah (H6954) appear in the Septuagint as Dessa and Makellath, and in the Vulgate as Ressa and Ceelatha. These are transliteration variants of the same toponyms rather than differences in meaning; the verbal structure ("they set out... they encamped...") is rendered consistently across the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin texts.