Numbers 33:41

Summary

The verse records one stage in the wilderness itinerary: the people set out from Mount Hor and made camp at Zalmonah. It is part of the list of stations in the journey narrative of Numbers 33.

Key words

• va-yis'u ("and they set out", H5265) — qal verb with narrative vav, marking sequential action in the itinerary list; the subject "they" is understood from the preceding narrative.
• me-Hor ("from Hor", H2023G) — proper name preceded by the preposition me ("from", H9006), indicating the point of departure.
• ha-Har ("the mountain", H2022G) — the common noun "mountain" with the definite article, standing in apposition to Hor, specifying that Hor is a mountain.
• va-yachanu ("and they encamped", H2583) — qal verb with narrative vav, paired with the previous verb to form the standard two-part formula "set out... encamped" used throughout this itinerary chapter.
• be-Tzalmonah ("at Zalmonah", H6758) — proper name preceded by the preposition be ("at", H9003), marking the destination/endpoint of this stage.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence follows the recurring two-verb pattern of Numbers 33: a departure verb followed by an encampment verb, each carrying the narrative vav that links successive stages of the journey as a chain of events ("and they set out... and they encamped..."). Both verbs are qal, third-person masculine plural, with no explicit subject noun in this verse — the subject is carried forward from earlier in the chapter's list, so the grammar itself signals this is a continuation of a longer sequence rather than a self-contained scene.

The place name Hor is qualified by ha-Har ("the mountain"), a construction that identifies Hor specifically as a mountain rather than another type of location; this apposition of proper name and common noun with the article is typical of how this itinerary distinguishes similarly named sites. The destination Tzalmonah has no such qualifier, appearing simply as a bare place name governed by the preposition be. The verse contains no other grammatical elements — no adjectives, no temporal markers beyond the narrative vav — reflecting the terse, formulaic style of the station-list in which this verse is embedded.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Hor as Ὧρ and adds τοῦ ὄρους ("of the mountain") to render ha-Har, matching the Hebrew apposition. The Vulgate similarly renders ha-Har as "de monte Hor," placing "mons" before "Hor" rather than after, a word-order difference from the Hebrew but not a difference in meaning. The place name Tzalmonah appears as Σελμωνά in the LXX and "Salmona" in the Vulgate, reflecting transliteration variants of the same Hebrew name rather than substantive divergence.