Numbers 33:26

Summary

The verse records one stage in the wilderness itinerary of the Israelites: they departed from Makheloth and set up camp at Tahath. It follows the standard two-verb formula used throughout Numbers 33 to mark successive stopping points.

Key words

• va-yis'u ("and they set out", H5265) — qal verb with narrative vav, marking sequential action ("and then they set out"); plural subject refers to the people collectively.
• mi-Makhelot ("from Makheloth", H4722) — preposition min ("from") prefixed to the proper place name, indicating point of departure.
• va-yachanu ("and they encamped", H2583) — second qal verb with narrative vav, continuing the sequence; describes the act of pitching camp.
• be-Tachat ("at Tahath", H8480G) — preposition be ("at/in") prefixed to the place name, indicating the location reached.

What the text says

The verse follows the recurring syntactic pattern of Numbers 33: a narrative vav + qal verb, followed by a prepositional phrase naming a place, repeated twice within the same verse. The first clause, va-yis'u mi-Makhelot ("and they set out from Makheloth"), uses the preposition min (H9006) to mark the origin of movement. The second clause, va-yachanu be-Tachat ("and they encamped at Tahath"), uses the preposition be (H9003) to mark the destination or location of encampment. Both verbs are third-person masculine plural, referring back to the collective group traveling through the wilderness, consistent with the itinerary format used across the chapter.

The grammar itself carries no additional theological or interpretive weight beyond marking sequence and location — the narrative vav simply chains one event to the next ("and then... and then..."), a hallmark of Biblical Hebrew narrative style. The two place names, Makhelot and Tachat, function purely as toponyms with no descriptive elements attached in the Hebrew text.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint renders Makhelot as Μακηλὼθ (Makēlōth), closely transliterating the Hebrew. For Tachat, however, the LXX gives Κατάαθ (Kataath), a rendering that differs notably in its consonantal shape from the Hebrian Tachat (H8480G). The Vulgate's Thahath and the Spanish/English translations (Tahath, Tahat) follow the Hebrew form more closely than the LXX's Kataath. This divergence reflects differences in how the place name was transmitted or transliterated in the Greek tradition compared to the Hebrew and Latin textual traditions.