Numeri 33:33 (Numbers 33:33)

Posted on May 30, 2006 by Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Nm 33:33 Unde profecti, castrametati sunt in Ietebatha.

Setting out from there, they encamped at Ietebatha.

# Latin Gloss Grammar Tag
1 Unde from there ADV.INVAR
2 profecti setting out NOM.PL.M.PERF.DEP.PTCP
3 castrametati encamped NOM.PL.M.PERF.DEP.PTCP
4 sunt they encamped 3PL.PRES.ACT.IND
5 in at PREP+ABL
6 Ietebatha Jotbathah ABL.SG.F

Syntax

Main Clause: Unde profecti, castrametati sunt in Ietebatha continues the itinerary of the sons of Israel. The sons of Israel are the understood subject. profecti describes their departure from the preceding station, while castrametati sunt is the finite perfect deponent construction describing their encampment at Ietebatha.

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

Verb Phrase: castrametati sunt is the perfect tense of the deponent verb castrametor. castrametati agrees with the understood masculine plural subject, while sunt serves as the auxiliary completing the perfect deponent construction.

Place of Encampment: in Ietebatha expresses place where and means “at Ietebatha.” Because in denotes location rather than motion toward a destination, it governs the ablative Ietebatha.

Morphology

  1. Unde — Lemma: unde; Part of Speech: Adverb; Form: Invariable adverb of place expressing source; Function: Modifies profecti and indicates the point of departure; Translation: “from there”; Notes: In the continuing itinerary, it refers back to Mount Gadgad, the station occupied immediately before this departure.
  2. profecti — Lemma: proficiscor; 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 proficiscor is deponent, profecti has active meaning despite its passive morphology and describes the departure preceding the encampment at Ietebatha.
  3. castrametati — Lemma: castrametor; Part of Speech: Perfect participle of a deponent verb; Form: Nominative plural masculine, perfect deponent participle, first conjugation; Function: Forms the perfect deponent construction castrametati sunt and agrees with the understood subject, the sons of Israel; Translation: “encamped”; Notes: The deponent verb castrametor means to pitch or establish a camp and has active meaning despite its passive morphological form.
  4. sunt — Lemma: sum; Part of Speech: Verb; Form: Third person plural, present active indicative, irregular; Function: Auxiliary completing the perfect deponent construction castrametati sunt; Translation: “they encamped”; Notes: Together with castrametati, it forms the perfect tense and presents the encampment at Ietebatha as a completed event.
  5. in — Lemma: in; Part of Speech: Preposition; Form: Invariable preposition governing the ablative; Function: Introduces the place where the sons of Israel encamped; Translation: “at”; Notes: Here in expresses location rather than movement toward a destination and therefore governs the ablative.
  6. Ietebatha — Lemma: Ietebatha; Part of Speech: Proper noun; Form: Ablative singular feminine, first declension; Function: Object of the locative preposition in and location of castrametati sunt; Translation: “Ietebatha”; Notes: The place-name identifies the next encampment reached after the sons of Israel departed from Mount Gadgad.

 

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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