Numbers 33:44

Summary

The verse records a stage in the Israelite itinerary list: the group sets out from a place called Oboth and camps at Iye-abarim, located on the border of Moab. The sentence is built from two parallel narrative verbs describing departure and arrival, followed by a geographic specification.

Key words

• yis'u ("they set out", H5265) — qal narrative form, third person masculine plural, marking sequential action ("and then they set out").
• yachanu ("they encamped", H2583) — qal narrative form, third person masculine plural, paired with the previous verb to form the standard "departed/encamped" formula of this itinerary chapter.
• 'Oboth (H0088) — proper name, the starting point, marked with the preposition me ("from", H9006).
• 'Abarim (H5863) — proper name, part of the compound place name 'Iyei ha'Abarim, with the definite article ha (H9009) attached.
• gvul ("border of", H1366H) — masculine singular noun in construct state, linking directly to Mo'av to mean "border of Moab."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence follows the recurring pattern of Numbers 33: a narrative vav (va, H9001) attaches each verb to the previous one, producing a chain of short clauses — "and they set out... and they encamped..." The two verbs yis'u and yachanu are both qal (simple stem) narrative forms, which in this list-style text function almost like entries in a log rather than as descriptive narration.

The place name in verse 44 is 'Iyei ha'Abarim, literally "the ruins/heaps ('Iyei) of the Abarim," with the article ha attached to 'Abarim — grammatically marking it as a known or specific location. This compound is then located spatially through the construct chain bi-gvul Mo'av, "on the border of Moab," where gvul ("border") stands in construct relationship to Mo'av, meaning the border belongs to or is defined by Moab.

The verse contains no independent clauses beyond the itinerary formula: subject (implied "they"), verb, prepositional phrase of origin, verb, prepositional phrase of destination, and a final locating phrase anchoring the whole to Moab's border.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the starting point as Sōbōth rather than matching the Hebrew 'Oboth (H0088) closely in transliteration, adding an initial sigma. For the destination, the LXX gives "ἐν Γαί, ἐν τῷ πέρα" ("in Gai, in the region beyond"), splitting what the Hebrew presents as one compound name ('Iyei ha'Abarim) into a place name plus the common phrase "beyond," rather than transliterating 'Abarim as a proper name. The Vulgate renders the same compound as a single word, "Ijeabarim," differing from the Hebrew's two-word construct form 'Iyei ha'Abarim.