Numeri 2:19 (Numbers 2:19)

Posted on April 29, 2006 by Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Nm 2:19 cunctus exercitus pugnatorum eius, qui numerati sunt, quadraginta millia quingenti.

The whole army of his fighting men, who were counted: forty thousand five hundred.

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

Syntax

Subject: cunctus exercitus — “the whole army.”
The adjective cunctus modifies exercitus, emphasizing the entirety of the force.

Genitive Construction: pugnatorum eius — “of his fighting men.”
The genitive plural pugnatorum specifies the composition of the army, while eius marks possession referring to the tribal group previously mentioned.

Relative Clause: qui numerati sunt — “who were counted.”
This clause defines the group as those officially enrolled in the census.

Numerical Predicate: quadraginta millia quingenti — “forty thousand five hundred.”
The numeral phrase functions as an implied predicate describing the total size of the army.

Morphology

  1. cunctus — Lemma: cunctus; Part of Speech: adjective; Form: nominative singular masculine; Translation: whole / entire; Notes: modifies exercitus.
  2. exercitus — Lemma: exercitus; Part of Speech: noun; Form: nominative singular masculine, fourth declension; Translation: army; Notes: subject of the sentence.
  3. pugnatorum — Lemma: pugnator; Part of Speech: noun; Form: genitive plural masculine; Translation: of fighters; Notes: dependent genitive modifying exercitus.
  4. eius — Lemma: is, ea, id; Part of Speech: pronoun; Form: genitive singular; Translation: his / its; Notes: possessive reference to the tribe.
  5. qui — Lemma: qui, quae, quod; Part of Speech: relative pronoun; Form: nominative plural masculine; Translation: who; Notes: introduces the relative clause referring to the soldiers.
  6. numerati — Lemma: numero; Part of Speech: participle; Form: nominative plural masculine perfect passive participle; Translation: counted / numbered; Notes: forms passive perfect with sunt.
  7. sunt — Lemma: sum; Part of Speech: verb; Form: third person plural present active indicative; Translation: are / were; Notes: auxiliary verb completing the passive perfect construction.
  8. quadraginta — Lemma: quadraginta; Part of Speech: numeral; Form: indeclinable cardinal numeral; Translation: forty; Notes: first element of the compound number.
  9. millia — Lemma: mille; Part of Speech: noun; Form: accusative plural neuter; Translation: thousand; Notes: expresses the thousands unit.
  10. quingenti — Lemma: quingenti; Part of Speech: numeral adjective; Form: nominative plural masculine; Translation: five hundred; Notes: agrees with an implied masculine 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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