Numbers 33:28

Summary

The verse records one segment of the Israelites' wilderness itinerary: departure from a place called Tarah and encampment at a place called Mithcah. It follows the standard formulaic pattern used throughout Numbers 33 to list successive stopping points.

Key words

• va-yis'u ("and they set out", H5265) — qal verb with narrative vav, marking sequential action; third person masculine plural, indicating the collective movement of the group.
• mi-Tarach ("from Tarah", H8646) — preposition mi ("from", H9006) prefixed to the proper place name, indicating the point of departure.
• va-yachanu ("and they encamped", H2583) — qal verb with narrative vav, parallel in form to va-yis'u, showing the second half of the fixed departure/encampment pattern.
• be-Mitqah ("at Mithcah", H4989) — preposition be ("at/in", H9003) prefixed to the proper place name, indicating the destination and resting point.

What the text says

The verse is built on a symmetrical two-clause structure, each clause opening with a narrative vav attached to a qal verb, followed by a prepositional phrase naming a location. The first clause, va-yis'u mi-Tarach ("and they set out from Tarah"), uses the preposition mi ("from") to mark the place left behind. The second clause, va-yachanu be-Mitqah ("and they encamped at Mithcah"), uses the preposition be ("at/in") to mark the place arrived at. This departure/arrival pairing, with matching verb forms and mirrored prepositions, is the recurring syntactic unit throughout the itinerary list in Numbers 33, and here it contains no additional descriptive or narrative material beyond the two place names and the two verbs of motion.

The verse contains no subject noun stated explicitly — the subject "they" is carried entirely by the verb inflections (yis'u, yachanu), both third person masculine plural, continuing the unnamed collective subject (the traveling group) established earlier in the chapter's itinerary.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew place name Tarach (H8646) appears in the LXX as Tarath (Τάραθ) and in the Vulgate implicitly assumed under the general phrase "unde egressi" ("from where they departed"), which omits naming Tarah explicitly and instead refers back to the previous verse's location. The Hebrew Mitqah (H4989) appears in the LXX as Matekka (Ματεκκά) and in the Vulgate as Methca, both transliterating the same Hebrew name with minor phonetic variation.