What Does Numbers 33:6 Mean in the King James?
And they departed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness.
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
Succoth (סֻכּוֹת, sukkot, “booths”) names shelter, so the verse’s departure is already a movement toward the wilderness threshold.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you in a movement that holds both leaving and settling: you depart one place and camp at another. Succoth (סֻכּוֹת, sukkot, “booths”) carries the image of shelter, while Etham stands at the edge of the wilderness. A pause can belong to the journey without being its completion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A place of shelter is not proof that the journey is over.
THE ROOT
סֻכּוֹת
sukkot
GROWS FROM
סכך
To cover, screen, or shelter.
The place name carries the image of booths, shelter that is real yet temporary. The route leaves Succoth for a camp at the wilderness edge, so shelter is a station along the movement rather than its end.
ALSO GROWS
sāḵaḵ: To cover or shelter.
סָכַךְ
The verb supplies the covering image carried by the place name Succoth.
sukkah: A booth or temporary shelter.
סֻכָּה
This singular form names the kind of shelter that Succoth evokes.
וַיִּסְעוּ
wayyisʿu
GROWS FROM
נסע
To set out or travel.
“departed” in this verse is wayyisʿu. The verse presents departure as the start of another stage, not as an isolated ending. The related noun for a journey also names a stage along a route, holding movement and sequence together.
ALSO GROWS
nāsaʿ: To set out or travel.
נָסַע
This is the verb form behind “departed,” naming the move from one station to the next.
massāʿ: A journey or stage of a journey.
מַסָּע
It makes explicit what the itinerary implies: each departure belongs to a larger sequence of stages.
וַיַּחֲנוּ
wayyaḥanu
GROWS FROM
חנה
To encamp or settle in a camp.
“pitched” in this verse is wayyaḥanu. The Hebrew sets departure beside encampment: motion is followed by a definite pause. The stop is real, but the route continues beyond it.
ALSO GROWS
ḥānāh: To encamp.
חָנָה
This verb names the act rendered “pitched” and gives the arrival a sense of settling in a camp.
maḥaneh: A camp or encampment.
מַחֲנֶה
The related noun makes the camp a place or station within the journey.
THE PATTERN
A shelter can offer a real pause while the route continues toward its next boundary.
And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness.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
And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.This verse gives Succoth its concrete image: booths are built, and the place is called Succoth. In Numbers, the route leaves that named shelter and continues to the wilderness edge, so the name itself makes the camp feel like a station in a longer passage.
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