Numbers 2:17

The Tribe in the Center

2:17 “Then the tent of meeting with the camp of the Levites will travel in the middle of the camps. They will travel in the same order as they camped, each in his own place ¹  under his standard.

Numbers 2:34

2:34 So the Israelites did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses; that is the way ²  they camped under their standards, and that is the way they traveled, each with his clan and family.

Numbers 9:20

9:20 When ³  the cloud remained over the tabernacle a number of days, ⁴  they remained camped according to the Lord’s commandment, ⁵  and according to the Lord’s commandment they would journey.

Numbers 9:22-23

9:22 Whether it was for two days, or a month, or a year, ⁶  that the cloud prolonged its stay ⁷  over the tabernacle, the Israelites remained camped without traveling; ⁸  but when it was taken up, they traveled on. 9:23 At the commandment of the Lord they camped, and at the commandment of the Lord they traveled on; they kept the instructions of the Lord according to the commandment of the Lord, by the authority ⁹  of Moses.

Numbers 21:13

21:13 From there they moved on and camped on the other side of the Arnon, in the wilderness that extends from the regions ¹⁰  of the Amorites, for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

Numbers 33:8

33:8 They traveled from Pi-hahiroth, ¹¹  and passed through the middle of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and camped in Marah.

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¹ tn The Hebrew expression is עַל־יָדוֹ (’al-yado, “upon his hand”). This clearly refers to a specifically designated place for each man.

² tn The Hebrew word is כֵּן (ken, “thus, so”).

³ tn The sentence uses וְיֵשׁ (vÿyesh) followed by a noun clause introduced with אֲשֶׁר (’asher) to express an existing situation; it is best translated as an adverbial clause of time: “and it was when the cloud was….”

⁴ tn The word “number” is in apposition to the word “days” to indicate that their stay was prolonged for quite a few days.

⁵ tn Heb “mouth of the Lord.”

⁶ tn The MT has אוֹ־יָמִים (’o-yamim). Most translators use “or a year” to interpret this expression in view of the sequence of words leading up to it, as well as in comparison with passages like Judg 17:10 and 1 Sam 1:3 and 27:7. See also the uses in Gen 40:4 and 1 Kgs 17:15. For the view that it means four months, see F. S. North, “Four Month Season of the Hebrew Bible,” VT 11 (1961): 446-48.

⁷ tn In the Hebrew text this sentence has a temporal clause using the preposition with the Hiphil infinitive construct of אָרַךְ (’arakh) followed by the subjective genitive, “the cloud.” But this infinitive is followed by the infinitive construct לִשְׁכֹּן (lishkon), the two of them forming a verbal hendiadys: “the cloud made long to stay” becomes “the cloud prolonged its stay.”

⁸ tn Heb “and they would not journey”; the clause can be taken adverbially, explaining the preceding verbal clause.

⁹ tn Heb “hand.”

¹⁰ tn Or “border.”

¹¹ tc So many medieval Hebrew manuscripts, Smr, Syriac, and Latin Vulgate. Other witnesses have “from before Hahiroth.”