Numbers 33:27

Summary

This verse is one entry in the itinerary list of Numbers 33, recording a single stage of the Israelites' journey through the wilderness. It states that they departed from a place called Tachat (Tahath) and set up camp at a place called Tarach (Terah).

Key words

• va-yis'u ("and they set out", H5265) — qal narrative form, third person masculine plural; the narrative vav links this action directly to the preceding verse's report, presenting the departure as the next event in the sequence.
• mi-Tachat ("from Tahath", H8480G) — the preposition mi ("from", H9006) prefixed to the place name Tahath, marking the point of departure.
• va-yachanu ("and they encamped", H2583) — qal narrative form, third person masculine plural, parallel in structure to va-yis'u; the pairing of "set out / encamped" is the fixed formula used throughout this chapter's itinerary.
• be-Tarach ("at Terah", H8646H) — the preposition be ("at", H9003) prefixed to the place name Terah, marking the destination.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence follows the repeated two-verb pattern that structures the entire chapter: a verb of departure (va-yis'u) followed by a prepositional phrase naming the point of origin, then a verb of encampment (va-yachanu) followed by a prepositional phrase naming the destination. Both verbs are qal narrative forms (vav-consecutive imperfect), which in this list-style text simply advance the sequence of stops without adding aspectual nuance beyond "this happened, then this happened." The subject "they" is not stated as a separate noun but is carried by the third-person plural verb form itself, continuing the collective subject (the traveling group) established earlier in the chapter's list.

The two place names, Tachat and Tarach, are proper nouns with no descriptive elements attached in the Hebrew — the verse offers no geographic detail beyond the names themselves. The prepositions mi ("from") and be ("at") are the only elements distinguishing the role of each location: one as the starting point, the other as the stopping point.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the first place name as Kataath where the Hebrew has Tachat (H8480G), and the second as Tarath where the Hebrew has Tarach (H8646H). The Vulgate follows the Hebrew place names more closely, giving Thahath and Thare. The Vulgate also omits an explicit equivalent for va-yis'u ("they set out") as a separate clause, compressing the sentence into "De Thahath, castrametati sunt in Thare" ("From Tahath, they encamped in Thare"), where the departure is expressed only through the preposition rather than a full verb.