Numbers 33:23

Summary

The verse records one stage in the itinerary of the Israelites' journey: departure from Kehelathah and encampment at Mount Shapher. It follows the standard formulaic pattern used throughout Numbers 33 to list stations of travel.

Key words

• va-yis'u ("and they set out", H5265) — qal narrative verb with narrative vav, marking sequential action: "and then they set out."
• mi-Qehelathah ("from Kehelathah", H6954) — proper place name prefixed with the preposition mi ("from"), indicating the point of departure.
• va-yachanu ("and they encamped", H2583) — second narrative verb, qal form, paralleling the first verb to show the two-part travel formula: departure and encampment.
• be-har ("at [the] mountain of", H2022G) — construct form of "mountain," meaning it must be joined to the following name to form "Mountain of Shapher."
• Shapher ("Shapher", H8234) — proper name identifying the specific mountain where the encampment occurred.

What the text says

The verse follows the same two-verb structure seen repeatedly in Numbers 33: a narrative sequence built from va-yis'u ("and they set out") followed later by va-yachanu ("and they encamped"). Both verbs are qal narrative forms, joined to the preceding verse by the narrative vav, which signals continuous, sequential storytelling — each stage flows directly from the last. This grammatical repetition creates the itinerary's rhythmic, list-like quality, marking travel as a chain of discrete stops rather than a continuous journey.

The phrase be-har-Shapher uses the construct form har ("mountain of"), which cannot stand alone grammatically — it must attach to the name Shapher to specify which mountain is meant, literally "the mountain of Shapher." This is a very common construction for geographic identifiers in this list, where a location is defined by attributing it to a specific named feature (a mountain, in this case) rather than standing as a simple, freestanding place name.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew place name Qehelathah (H6954) appears in the LXX as ακελλὰθ (Akellath) and in the Vulgate simply as an unnamed referent ("Unde," meaning "from there"), omitting the specific name found in the Hebrew and LXX. The Vulgate's phrasing consolidates the itinerary without explicitly repeating the place name, unlike the Hebrew and Greek, which both name Kehelathah directly before the transition to Mount Shapher.