What Does Numbers 10:35 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse joins forward motion to the LORD’s arising: when he stands forth, the enemy’s gathered force cannot hold together.
THE MEANING
The prayer speaks into the reader’s present: when the LORD rises into view, hostility cannot keep its formation; those who hate him scatter and flee from his presence. The verse pictures opposition losing its ability to stand against him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that gathered hostility becomes sovereign simply because it is strong or numerous.
THE ROOT
קוּמָה
qumah
GROWS FROM
קום
Rise, stand, be established.
“Rise up” in this verse is qumah. The root carries the sense of standing as well as rising; מָקוֹם (maqom, place) is a related word for the place where one stands. The prayer presents the LORD’s arising as taking a stand that leaves hostility unable to stay assembled.
ALSO GROWS
maqom: Place, standing place.
מָקוֹם
The related word for place suggests that arising is not only motion; it is also taking a stand.
tequmah: Rising, standing again.
תְּקוּמָה
This branch keeps the root’s sense of renewed standing close to the prayer’s call for the LORD to rise.
יָפֻצוּ
yafutsu
GROWS FROM
פוץ
Scatter, disperse, spread abroad.
“Scattered” in this verse is yafutsu. This root describes a gathered body being broken apart and dispersed. Here the enemies do not merely retreat as individuals; their force loses its cohesion before the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
wayyaphets: He scattered.
וַיָּפֶץ
The same root describes a force being dispersed, making clear that scattering is the undoing of a gathered arrangement.
mefitsim: Those who scatter.
מְפִיצִים
This branch names agents who break a group apart, sharpening what happens to the enemies’ formation here.
יָנֻסוּ
yanusu
GROWS FROM
נוס
Flee, escape.
“Flee” in this verse is yanusu. The root for fleeing also gives מָנוֹס (manos, refuge or escape). English separates flight from refuge, while Hebrew links them as movements away from danger; here those who hate the LORD are driven into flight before him.
ALSO GROWS
nas: Fleeing, one who flees.
נָס
This form keeps the action of escape visible inside the verse’s description of the LORD’s enemies.
manos: Refuge, escape.
מָנוֹס
The shared root links flight with finding escape, showing that the enemies’ movement is compelled retreat.
THE PATTERN
When the LORD’s presence rises into view, opposing forces lose their footing and retreat.
The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, A Psalm or Song of David. Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.Psalm 68:1 repeats the same Hebrew roots: קום (qum, rise or stand) and פוץ (putz, scatter). Their pairing reveals the pattern in Numbers as a single movement: the LORD stands forth, and the enemies’ gathered shape breaks apart.
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