What Does Numbers 33:47 Mean in the King James?
And they removed from Almon-diblathaim, and pitched in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo.
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 camp stands on ground whose name echoes crossing, so the pause is already inside the passage.
THE MEANING
You can be in motion and still be stopped before the next crossing. This camp is one stage in the route, not proof that the route has ended.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A pause means you have lost the way; here, encampment belongs to the journey’s sequence.
THE ROOT
עֲבָרִים
ʿĂvārîm
GROWS FROM
עבר
ʿ-b-r
To pass over, cross, or go beyond.
Abarim is commonly linked to עבר (ʿābar, to pass over or cross). The English names a mountain range; the Hebrew name also carries an echo of crossing, so the camp rests on crossing-named ground.
ALSO GROWS
ʿābar: Pass over, cross.
עָבַר
Joshua uses this verb for going over the Jordan, making the crossing implicit in Abarim explicit.
maʿăvār: Passage or crossing.
מַעֲבָר
This noun grows from the same root, carrying the crossing idea into a word for a passage.
וַיַּחֲנוּ
wayyaḥănû from ḥānâ
GROWS FROM
חנה
ḥ-n-h
To encamp or settle at a place for a time.
“pitched” in this verse is wayyaḥănû from ḥānâ. The Hebrew encampment word also appears in Exodus when Israel camps before Sinai. That shared root connects this pause before Nebo with another camp set before a mountain.
ALSO GROWS
ḥānâ: Encamp or settle for a time.
חָנָה
This is the verb behind “pitched”; the movement has reached a place where the travelers dwell.
maḥăneh: Camp or encampment.
מַחֲנֶה
The noun for a camp grows from the same root, showing that the stop itself is part of the journey’s vocabulary.
maḥănayim: Two camps; a place-name formed from the same root.
מַחֲנַיִם
The doubled camp-name preserves the root’s sense of a place defined by encampment.
THE PATTERN
A journey advances through both departure and temporary dwelling; a camp is one of its stages.
At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the LORD they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents.For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:THE THREAD
Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.Abarim is linked to עבר (ʿābar, to pass over or cross); Joshua uses that same root in “go over.” Numbers places the camp on crossing-named ground, while Joshua speaks the crossing aloud.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us