Numeri 2:11 (Numbers 2:11)

Posted on April 29, 2006 by Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

11 et cunctus exercitus pugnatorum eius qui numerati sunt, quadraginta sex millia quingenti.

and the whole army of his fighting men who were counted: forty-six thousand five hundred.

# Latin Gloss Grammar Tag
1 et and CONJ
2 cunctus whole ADJ.NOM.SG.M
3 exercitus army NOUN.NOM.SG.M.4TH DECL
4 pugnatorum of fighters NOUN.GEN.PL.M.3RD DECL
5 eius his PRON.GEN.SG.PERS
6 qui who PRON.NOM.PL.REL
7 numerati counted PTCP.NOM.PL.M.PERF.PASS
8 sunt were 3PL.PRES.ACT.IND
9 quadraginta forty ADJ.INDECL
10 sex six ADJ.INDECL
11 millia thousand NOUN.ACC.PL.N.2ND DECL
12 quingenti five hundred ADJ.NOM.PL.M

Syntax

Main Clause: The statement is elliptical with an implied verb such as sunt, expressing the census total.

Subject: cunctus exercitus — “the whole army.”

Dependent Genitive: pugnatorum eius modifies exercitus, specifying that the army consists of his fighting men.

Relative Clause: qui numerati sunt describes those who were counted in the census.

Numerical Predicate: quadraginta sex millia quingenti provides the recorded number.
millia expresses the thousands unit, while quingenti adds the remaining five hundred.

Clause Function: This expression gives the official census total of the warriors belonging to the tribe being described.

Morphology

  1. et — Lemma: et; Part of Speech: conjunction; Form: coordinating conjunction; Function: links this census total with the previous enumeration; Translation: and; Notes: Frequently used in the sequence of tribal census summaries.
  2. cunctus — Lemma: cunctus; Part of Speech: adjective; Form: nominative singular masculine; Function: modifies exercitus; Translation: whole / entire; Notes: Emphasizes the completeness of the military force counted.
  3. exercitus — Lemma: exercitus; Part of Speech: noun; Form: nominative singular masculine, fourth declension; Function: head noun and implied subject of the elliptical clause; Translation: army; Notes: Refers to the organized body of fighting men belonging to the tribe.
  4. pugnatorum — Lemma: pugnator; Part of Speech: noun; Form: genitive plural masculine, third declension; Function: dependent genitive modifying exercitus; Translation: of fighters; Notes: Specifies that the army consists of combatants.
  5. eius — Lemma: is, ea, id; Part of Speech: pronoun; Form: genitive singular; Function: possessive modifier of pugnatorum; Translation: his / its; Notes: Refers to the tribe previously mentioned.
  6. qui — Lemma: qui, quae, quod; Part of Speech: relative pronoun; Form: nominative plural masculine; Function: subject of the relative clause; Translation: who; Notes: Introduces the clause describing those counted.
  7. numerati — Lemma: numero; Part of Speech: participle; Form: nominative plural masculine perfect passive participle; Function: forms passive perfect with sunt; Translation: counted / numbered; Notes: Common in census or enrollment contexts.
  8. sunt — Lemma: sum; Part of Speech: verb; Form: third person plural present active indicative; Function: auxiliary verb forming the passive perfect; Translation: are / were; Notes: Combined with the participle to express completed enumeration.
  9. quadraginta — Lemma: quadraginta; Part of Speech: numeral adjective; Form: indeclinable cardinal numeral; Function: first element of the compound number; Translation: forty; Notes: Cardinal numeral that does not change form.
  10. sex — Lemma: sex; Part of Speech: numeral adjective; Form: indeclinable cardinal numeral; Function: second component of the compound number; Translation: six; Notes: Combined with quadraginta to form forty-six.
  11. millia — Lemma: mille; Part of Speech: noun; Form: accusative plural neuter, second declension; Function: expresses the thousands unit in the numeral phrase; Translation: thousand; Notes: Plural substantive numeral used to express large totals.
  12. quingenti — Lemma: quingenti; Part of Speech: numeral adjective; Form: nominative plural masculine; Function: adds the remaining hundreds to the total; Translation: five hundred; Notes: Masculine plural agrees with an implied noun such as “men.”

 

About Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Born around 346 A.D. in Stridon, St. Jerome was a scholar fluent in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew whose ascetic discipline and deep engagement with Scripture prepared him for a monumental task: translating the Bible into Latin. Commissioned by Pope Damasus I around 382 A.D., Jerome began by revising the flawed Old Latin Gospels, then expanded his work to the entire Bible. For the New Testament, he corrected Latin texts using Greek manuscripts; for the Old Testament, he translated most books directly from Hebrew—a controversial but principled choice. His final Psalter, however, followed the Greek Septuagint tradition for liturgical use. This composite translation, later known as the Vulgate (editio vulgata), became the authoritative biblical text of the Western Church, formally endorsed at the Council of Trent in 1546. The Vulgate’s influence extends beyond theology into textual criticism and Latin education. As one of the earliest translations grounded in original-language scholarship, it offers a vital witness to the state of biblical texts in late antiquity. Jerome’s lexical and syntactic decisions are studied to trace manuscript history and assess variant readings. Its elegant Latin, consistent in grammar and rich in vocabulary, became a model for medieval and Renaissance learning, bridging classical and ecclesiastical Latin. More than a translation, the Vulgate helped define Christian doctrine, preserved the Latin language, and laid essential groundwork for the critical study of Scripture—remaining indispensable to students of Latin, theology, and textual history.
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