Numeri 2:15 (Numbers 2:15)

Posted on April 29, 2006 by Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Nm 2:15 et cunctus exercitus pugnatorum eius, qui numerati sunt, quadraginta quinque millia sexcenti quinquaginta.

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

# 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 are 3PL.PRES.ACT.IND
9 quadraginta forty ADJ.INDECL
10 quinque five ADJ.INDECL
11 millia thousand NOUN.ACC.PL.N.2ND DECL
12 sexcenti six hundred ADJ.NOM.PL.M
13 quinquaginta fifty ADJ.INDECL

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 the men who were formally counted in the census.

Numerical Predicate: quadraginta quinque millia sexcenti quinquaginta gives the recorded number.
millia expresses the thousands unit, while sexcenti quinquaginta adds the remaining six hundred fifty.

Clause Function: This expression provides the official census total of the warriors belonging to the tribe previously mentioned.

Morphology

  1. et — Lemma: et; Part of Speech: conjunction; Form: coordinating conjunction; Function: links this census statement with the previous enumeration; Translation: and; Notes: Frequently used in the Vulgate census lists to connect successive tribal totals.
  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 in the census narrative.
  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 who were counted.
  7. numerati — Lemma: numero; Part of Speech: participle; Form: nominative plural masculine perfect passive participle; Function: forms the passive perfect with sunt; Translation: counted / numbered; Notes: Used in census contexts to indicate formal enumeration.
  8. sunt — Lemma: sum; Part of Speech: verb; Form: third person plural present active indicative; Function: auxiliary verb forming the passive perfect; Translation: are / have been; Notes: Combined with the participle to indicate completed counting.
  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 decline for case or gender.
  10. quinque — Lemma: quinque; Part of Speech: numeral adjective; Form: indeclinable cardinal numeral; Function: second element of the compound number; Translation: five; Notes: Combined with quadraginta to form forty-five.
  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 form used substantively for large numerical totals.
  12. sexcenti — Lemma: sescenti / sexcenti; Part of Speech: numeral adjective; Form: nominative plural masculine; Function: adds the hundreds portion of the total; Translation: six hundred; Notes: Masculine plural agrees with an implied noun such as “men.”
  13. quinquaginta — Lemma: quinquaginta; Part of Speech: numeral adjective; Form: indeclinable cardinal numeral; Function: completes the hundreds value following sexcenti; Translation: fifty; Notes: Together with sexcenti forms the number six hundred fifty.

 

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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