Numeri 33:24 (Numbers 33:24)

Posted on May 30, 2006 by Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Nm 33:24 Egressi de monte Sepher, venerunt in Arada.

Setting out from mount Sepher, they came to Arada.

# Latin Gloss Grammar Tag
1 Egressi setting out NOM.PL.M.PERF.DEP.PTCP
2 de from PREP+ABL
3 monte mount ABL.SG.M
4 Sepher Shepher INDECL
5 venerunt they came 3PL.PERF.ACT.IND
6 in to PREP+ACC
7 Arada Haradah ACC.SG.F

Syntax

Main Clause: Egressi de monte Sepher, venerunt in Arada continues the itinerary of the sons of Israel. The sons of Israel are the understood subject. Egressi describes their departure from Mount Sepher, while venerunt is the finite main verb describing their arrival at Arada.

Participial Phrase: Egressi de monte Sepher means “setting out from Mount Sepher.” Egressi is a perfect deponent participle agreeing with the understood masculine plural subject and expresses the action preceding venerunt.

Place of Departure: de monte Sepher identifies Mount Sepher as the point of departure. de governs the ablative monte, while the indeclinable proper name Sepher specifies the mountain.

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 the arrival as a completed stage of the journey.

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

Morphology

  1. 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 that precedes the arrival at Arada.
  2. de — Lemma: de; Part of Speech: Preposition; Form: Invariable preposition governing the ablative; Function: Introduces the place of departure; Translation: “from”; Notes: It governs monte and marks Mount Sepher as the point from which the sons of Israel departed.
  3. monte — Lemma: mons; Part of Speech: Noun; Form: Ablative singular masculine, third declension; Function: Object of the preposition de; Translation: “Mount”; Notes: The noun denotes the mountain from which the Israelites departed and is further identified by the proper name Sepher.
  4. Sepher — Lemma: Sepher; Part of Speech: Proper noun; Form: Indeclinable place-name, functioning in apposition with the ablative monte; Function: Specifies and names monte; Translation: “Sepher”; Notes: The indeclinable geographical name combines with monte to form the designation “Mount Sepher.”
  5. 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 Arada as a completed event in the itinerary.
  6. 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.
  7. Arada — Lemma: Arada; Part of Speech: Proper noun; Form: Accusative singular feminine, first declension; Function: Object of the directional preposition in and destination of venerunt; Translation: “Arada”; Notes: The place-name identifies the next station reached by the sons of Israel after their departure from Mount Sepher.

 

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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