Numbers 33:37

Summary

The verse records a stage in the wilderness itinerary: the Israelites departed from Kadesh (H6946G) and made camp at Hor (H2023G), a mountain located at the border of the land of Edom (H0123G). It is a simple two-clause narrative sentence typical of this itinerary list in Numbers 33.

Key words

• va-yis'u ("and they set out", H5265) — qal narrative verb form, indicating sequential action ("and then they set out"); the narrative vav va (H9001) links this clause to the preceding itinerary.
• va-yachanu ("and they encamped", H2583) — second narrative verb, parallel in form to yis'u, marking the completion of this stage of travel ("and then they encamped").
• Hor ha-Har — literally "Hor the mountain" (H2023G + H9009 + H2022G), where ha-Har ("the mountain", H2022G) with definite article ha (H9009) follows the place name Hor in apposition.
• qtzeh ("border of", H7097A) — noun in construct state, meaning it must be followed by another noun to complete its meaning ("border of X").
• 'eretz Edom ("land of Edom", H0776G + H0123G) — 'eretz ("land of") stands in construct with the proper name Edom, forming the phrase completed by qtzeh: "the border of the land of Edom."

What the text says

The verse is built on two parallel narrative verbs, va-yis'u ("and they set out", H5265) and va-yachanu ("and they encamped", H2583), both in the qal narrative form that Biblical Hebrew uses to advance a story sequentially. This grammatical parallelism mirrors the repeated pattern found throughout the itinerary of Numbers 33, where each verse typically begins with departure and ends with encampment.

The location of the encampment is given through a chain of construct nouns: bi-qtzeh ("on the border of", H7097A) is a construct noun requiring a following noun to complete its sense, which is supplied by 'eretz Edom ("land of Edom", H0776G + H0123G) — itself another construct pair. This creates a nested phrase: "on the border of [the land of Edom]," precisely locating Mount Hor relative to Edom's territory rather than placing it inside Edom itself.

The double naming Hor ha-Har ("Hor the-mountain") uses the place name Hor (H2023G) followed by the common noun ha-Har ("the mountain", H2022G) with the definite article ha (H9009), a construction that identifies the proper name by appositional restatement of its geographical category.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders bi-qtzeh ("on the border of", H7097A) with the Greek πλησίον ("near, close to"), which shifts the sense from "border/edge" toward general proximity. The Vulgate uses in extremis finibus ("in the outermost boundaries"), emphasizing the extremity of the border more strongly than the Hebrew construct phrase alone conveys.