Numeri 33:47 (Numbers 33:47)

Posted on May 30, 2006 by Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Nm 33:47 Egressique de Helmondeblathaim, venerunt ad montes Abarim contra Nabo.

And setting out from Helmondeblathaim, they came to the mountains of Abarim, opposite Nabo.

# Latin Gloss Grammar Tag
1 Egressique and setting out NOM.PL.M.PERF.DEP.PTCP
2 de from PREP+ABL
3 Helmondeblathaim Almondiblathaim INDECL
4 venerunt they came 3PL.PERF.ACT.IND
5 ad to PREP+ACC
6 montes the mountains ACC.PL.M
7 Abarim of Abarim INDECL
8 contra opposite PREP+ACC
9 Nabo Nebo INDECL

Syntax

Main Clause: Egressique de Helmondeblathaim, venerunt ad montes Abarim contra Nabo means “And setting out from Helmondeblathaim, they came to the mountains of Abarim, opposite Nabo.” The sons of Israel are the understood subject. Egressique de Helmondeblathaim describes their departure, while venerunt is the finite main verb expressing their arrival at the next geographical location.

Participial Phrase: Egressique de Helmondeblathaim means “and setting out from Helmondeblathaim.” Egressique is a perfect deponent participle agreeing with the understood masculine plural subject, the sons of Israel. Its attached enclitic -que connects this departure with the preceding itinerary. The participle describes an action preceding the arrival expressed by venerunt.

Place of Departure: de Helmondeblathaim identifies Helmondeblathaim as the point of departure. The preposition de governs the ablative in function. Because Helmondeblathaim is an indeclinable place-name, its form remains unchanged.

Main Verb: venerunt means “they came.” It is third person plural, perfect active indicative of venio. Its understood subject is the sons of Israel, and the perfect tense presents their arrival as a completed event in the journey.

Destination: ad montes Abarim means “to the mountains of Abarim.” The preposition ad governs the accusative plural montes and expresses movement toward a destination. The indeclinable geographical name Abarim identifies the mountain range and functions as a dependent geographical designation.

Geographical Position: contra Nabo means “opposite Nabo.” The preposition contra governs the accusative in function and specifies the position of the mountains of Abarim in relation to Nabo. Here contra has a spatial meaning, not the adversative meaning “against.”

Sequence of Events: The perfect deponent participle Egressique describes the departure from Helmondeblathaim, while the perfect indicative venerunt records the subsequent arrival. The two geographical expressions ad montes Abarim and contra Nabo identify the destination and its relative position.

Morphology

  1. Egressique — Lemma: egredior; Part of Speech: Perfect participle of a deponent verb with enclitic conjunction; Form: Nominative plural masculine, perfect deponent participle, third conjugation, with enclitic -que; Function: Circumstantial participle agreeing with the understood subject, the sons of Israel; Translation: “and setting out”; Notes: The deponent verb egredior has active meaning despite its passive morphology. The attached -que means “and” and links this departure to the preceding stage of the itinerary.
  2. de — Lemma: de; Part of Speech: Preposition; Form: Invariable preposition governing the ablative; Function: Introduces the place of departure; Translation: “from”; Notes: It marks Helmondeblathaim as the location from which the sons of Israel departed.
  3. Helmondeblathaim — Lemma: Helmondeblathaim; Part of Speech: Proper noun; Form: Indeclinable geographical name, functioning as ablative after de; Function: Complement of the preposition de and point of departure; Translation: “Helmondeblathaim”; Notes: The place-name identifies the preceding encampment and remains morphologically unchanged despite its ablative function.
  4. venerunt — Lemma: venio; Part of Speech: Verb; Form: Third person plural, perfect active indicative, fourth conjugation; Function: Main finite verb with the sons of Israel as the understood subject; Translation: “they came”; Notes: The perfect tense describes the arrival at the mountains of Abarim as a completed event. The verb is accompanied by the directional phrase ad montes Abarim.
  5. ad — Lemma: ad; Part of Speech: Preposition; Form: Invariable preposition governing the accusative; Function: Introduces the destination of venerunt; Translation: “to”; Notes: It expresses movement toward the mountains of Abarim without necessarily specifying movement into or onto them.
  6. montes — Lemma: mons; Part of Speech: Noun; Form: Accusative plural masculine, third declension; Function: Object of the directional preposition ad; Translation: “the mountains”; Notes: The plural denotes the mountains or mountainous region identified by the following geographical name Abarim.
  7. Abarim — Lemma: Abarim; Part of Speech: Proper noun; Form: Indeclinable geographical name, functioning as a dependent designation of montes; Function: Identifies the mountains named by montes; Translation: “of Abarim”; Notes: Together montes Abarim means “the mountains of Abarim.” The proper name remains unchanged rather than taking a distinct Latin genitive ending.
  8. contra — Lemma: contra; Part of Speech: Preposition; Form: Invariable preposition governing the accusative; Function: Introduces a geographical expression specifying relative position; Translation: “opposite”; Notes: In this context, contra indicates spatial orientation or location facing another place, rather than hostility or opposition.
  9. Nabo — Lemma: Nabo; Part of Speech: Proper noun; Form: Indeclinable geographical name, functioning as accusative after contra; Function: Complement of contra and geographical reference point for the location of the mountains of Abarim; Translation: “Nabo”; Notes: The place-name identifies the location opposite which the mountains of Abarim are situated. Its form remains unchanged despite its accusative syntactic function.

 

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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