Numeri 33:20 (Numbers 33:20)

Posted on May 30, 2006 by Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Nm 33:20 Unde egressi venerunt in Lebna.

Setting out from there, they came to Lebna.

# Latin Gloss Grammar Tag
1 Unde from there ADV.INVAR
2 egressi setting out NOM.PL.M.PERF.DEP.PTCP
3 venerunt they came 3PL.PERF.ACT.IND
4 in to PREP+ACC
5 Lebna Libnah ACC.SG.F

Syntax

Main Clause: Unde egressi venerunt in Lebna continues the itinerary of the sons of Israel. The sons of Israel are the understood subject. egressi describes their departure, while venerunt is the finite main verb describing their arrival at Lebna.

Departure: Unde egressi means “setting out from there.” Unde is an adverb expressing motion from a place and refers back to Remmomphares, the preceding encampment. egressi is a perfect deponent participle agreeing with the understood masculine plural subject.

Main Verb: venerunt means “they came.” It is third person plural and has the sons of Israel as its understood subject. The perfect tense presents their arrival as a completed stage in the itinerary.

Destination: in Lebna expresses motion toward Lebna. Because in denotes movement to a destination, it governs the accusative Lebna.

Morphology

  1. Unde — Lemma: unde; Part of Speech: Adverb; Form: Invariable adverb of place expressing source; Function: Modifies egressi and indicates the point of departure; Translation: “from there”; Notes: In the continuing itinerary, it refers back to Remmomphares, the location of the immediately preceding encampment.
  2. egressi — Lemma: egredior; Part of Speech: Perfect participle of a deponent verb; Form: Nominative plural masculine, perfect deponent participle, third conjugation; Function: Circumstantial participle agreeing with the understood subject, the sons of Israel; Translation: “setting out”; Notes: Because egredior is deponent, egressi has active meaning despite its passive morphology and describes the departure preceding their arrival at Lebna.
  3. venerunt — Lemma: venio; Part of Speech: Verb; Form: Third person plural, perfect active indicative, fourth conjugation; Function: Main verb with the sons of Israel understood as subject; Translation: “they came”; Notes: The perfect tense presents the arrival at Lebna as a completed event in the sequence of journeys.
  4. in — Lemma: in; Part of Speech: Preposition; Form: Invariable preposition governing the accusative; Function: Introduces the destination of venerunt; Translation: “to”; Notes: With the verb of motion venerunt, in expresses movement toward the destination.
  5. Lebna — Lemma: Lebna; Part of Speech: Proper noun; Form: Accusative singular feminine, first declension; Function: Object of the directional preposition in and destination of venerunt; Translation: “Lebna”; Notes: The place-name identifies the next station reached by the sons of Israel after their departure from Remmomphares.

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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