Numeri 34:2 (Numbers 34:2)

Posted on June 1, 2006 by Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Nm 34:2 Præcipe filiis Israel, et dices ad eos: Cum ingressi fueritis Terram Chanaan, et in possessionem vobis sorte ceciderit, his finibus terminabitur.

“Command the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: When you have entered the Land of Chanaan, and it has fallen to you by lot as a possession, it shall be bounded by these limits.

# Latin Gloss Grammar Tag
1 Præcipe command 2SG.PRES.ACT.IMP.MOOD 3RD CONJ
2 filiis the children DAT.PL.M 2ND DECL.IOBJ
3 Israel of Israel INDECL
4 et and CONJ INVAR
5 dices you shall say 2SG.FUT.ACT.IND 3RD CONJ
6 ad to PREP+ACC
7 eos them ACC.PL.M.PERS
8 Cum when CONJ INVAR
9 ingressi having entered NOM.PL.M.PERF.DEP.PTCP
10 fueritis you have 2PL.PERF.ACT.SUBJ
11 Terram the land ACC.SG.F 1ST DECL.OBJ
12 Chanaan of Canaan INDECL
13 et and CONJ INVAR
14 in as / into PREP+ACC
15 possessionem a possession ACC.SG.F 3RD DECL
16 vobis to you DAT.PL.PERS.IOBJ
17 sorte by lot ABL.SG.F 3RD DECL
18 ceciderit it has fallen 3SG.PERF.ACT.SUBJ 3RD CONJ
19 his these ABL.PL.M.DEM
20 finibus limits ABL.PL.M 3RD DECL
21 terminabitur it shall be bounded 3SG.FUT.PASS.IND 1ST CONJ

Syntax

Main Commands: Præcipe filiis Israel, et dices ad eos contains two coordinated verbal instructions addressed to Moses. Præcipe is a singular imperative, “command,” while dices is a future indicative used with directive force, “you shall say.”

Indirect Object: filiis Israel identifies those who are to receive the command. filiis is dative plural, while the indeclinable proper name Israel functions as a dependent genitival expression in sense: “the children of Israel.”

Prepositional Phrase: ad eos means “to them.” The pronoun eos refers back to filiis Israel.

Temporal Subordinate Clause: Cum ingressi fueritis Terram Chanaan means “when you have entered the land of Canaan.” ingressi fueritis is a compound perfect deponent subjunctive whose masculine plural participle agrees with the understood subject “you,” namely the Israelites. Terram is the direct object of the deponent verb ingredior, and Chanaan specifies which land is meant.

Coordinated Subordinate Clause: et in possessionem vobis sorte ceciderit continues within the scope of Cum. The grammatical subject of ceciderit is understood from Terram Chanaan, now conceived as the land itself: “and it has fallen to you by lot as a possession.” vobis is the dative of recipient, while sorte is an ablative expressing the means or manner of allotment. in possessionem expresses the resulting status or purpose of the land as a possession.

Main Clause of the Quoted Instruction: his finibus terminabitur means “it shall be bounded by these limits.” The subject is again the understood Terra Chanaan. his finibus is ablative and specifies the boundaries by which the land is to be delimited.

Morphology

  1. Præcipe — Lemma: præcipio; Part of Speech: Verb; Form: Second person singular, present active imperative, third conjugation in -io; Function: Main imperative addressed to Moses, governing the dative filiis Israel; Translation: “command”; Notes: The verb introduces the divine instruction that Moses is to transmit to Israel.
  2. filiis — Lemma: filius; Part of Speech: Noun; Form: Dative plural masculine, second declension; Function: Indirect object of Præcipe; Translation: “the children”; Notes: In the biblical expression filiis Israel, “sons” is naturally rendered “children” when referring collectively to the Israelites.
  3. Israel — Lemma: Israel; Part of Speech: Proper noun; Form: Indeclinable biblical proper name; Function: Dependent modifier of filiis, equivalent in sense to “of Israel”; Translation: “of Israel”; Notes: Because Israel is indeclinable here, its genitival relationship is determined syntactically rather than by an inflectional ending.
  4. et — Lemma: et; Part of Speech: Conjunction; Form: Indeclinable coordinating conjunction; Function: Coordinates dices with Præcipe; Translation: “and”; Notes: It links the command to Moses with the speech he is to deliver to Israel.
  5. dices — Lemma: dico; Part of Speech: Verb; Form: Second person singular, future active indicative, third conjugation; Function: Coordinated main verb addressed to Moses; Translation: “you shall say”; Notes: The future indicative has directive force, specifying what Moses is to say after receiving the command.
  6. ad — Lemma: ad; Part of Speech: Preposition; Form: Indeclinable preposition governing the accusative; Function: Introduces the recipients of Moses’ speech; Translation: “to”; Notes: With a verb of speaking, ad plus the accusative identifies the person or group addressed.
  7. eos — Lemma: is; Part of Speech: Personal-demonstrative pronoun; Form: Accusative plural masculine; Function: Object of the preposition ad; Translation: “them”; Notes: Its antecedent is filiis Israel, the Israelites whom Moses is instructed to address.
  8. Cum — Lemma: cum; Part of Speech: Conjunction; Form: Indeclinable subordinating conjunction; Function: Introduces the temporal subordinate clauses describing the Israelites’ entry into and reception of the land; Translation: “when”; Notes: The clause establishes the future circumstances under which the stated boundaries of Canaan will apply.
  9. ingressi — Lemma: ingredior; Part of Speech: Verb, deponent participle; Form: Nominative plural masculine, perfect deponent participle, third conjugation; Function: Participial component of ingressi fueritis, agreeing with the understood plural subject “you”; Translation: “entered”; Notes: As a deponent form it has active meaning despite its passive-looking morphology; together with fueritis it expresses completed entry into the land.
  10. fueritis — Lemma: sum; Part of Speech: Verb; Form: Second person plural, perfect active subjunctive, irregular verb, used as an auxiliary; Function: Auxiliary completing the perfect deponent expression ingressi fueritis; Translation: “you have” as part of “you have entered”; Notes: In this compound construction it supports the perfect deponent participle ingressi; the temporal clause refers to an action completed before the subsequent delimitation of the land.
  11. Terram — Lemma: terra; Part of Speech: Noun; Form: Accusative singular feminine, first declension; Function: Direct object of ingressi fueritis; Translation: “the land”; Notes: Although ingredior can occur with different constructions, here the accusative directly marks the place entered; this land is also the understood subject of the following singular verbs.
  12. Chanaan — Lemma: Chanaan; Part of Speech: Proper noun; Form: Indeclinable biblical geographical name; Function: Specifies Terram as the land of Canaan; Translation: “of Chanaan”; Notes: Its relationship to Terram is understood from juxtaposition, since the proper name itself is indeclinable in this form.
  13. et — Lemma: et; Part of Speech: Conjunction; Form: Indeclinable coordinating conjunction; Function: Coordinates ceciderit with the preceding temporal idea ingressi fueritis; Translation: “and”; Notes: The conjunction joins two circumstances governed by Cum: entering the land and receiving it by allotment.
  14. in — Lemma: in; Part of Speech: Preposition; Form: Indeclinable preposition governing the accusative; Function: Introduces possessionem as the resulting status in which the land comes to Israel; Translation: “as” or “into”; Notes: With the accusative here, in possessionem expresses movement into a condition or result: the land comes to them as their possession.
  15. possessionem — Lemma: possessio; Part of Speech: Noun; Form: Accusative singular feminine, third declension; Function: Object of the preposition in; Translation: “a possession”; Notes: The phrase in possessionem characterizes the allotted land as property granted to Israel.
  16. vobis — Lemma: vos; Part of Speech: Personal pronoun; Form: Dative plural, second person; Function: Dative of recipient with ceciderit; Translation: “to you”; Notes: The pronoun refers to the children of Israel and marks them as the recipients of the allotted land.
  17. sorte — Lemma: sors; Part of Speech: Noun; Form: Ablative singular feminine, third declension; Function: Ablative of means or manner with ceciderit; Translation: “by lot”; Notes: It describes the method by which the land comes into Israel’s possession, namely allotment by lot.
  18. ceciderit — Lemma: cado; Part of Speech: Verb; Form: Third person singular, perfect active subjunctive, third conjugation; Function: Verb of the second coordinated clause under Cum, with the land understood as its subject; Translation: “it has fallen”; Notes: The idiom of something “falling” to someone by lot means that it is assigned or allotted to that person; the understood subject is the land of Canaan.
  19. his — Lemma: hic; Part of Speech: Demonstrative pronoun used adjectivally; Form: Ablative plural masculine; Function: Modifies finibus; Translation: “these”; Notes: The demonstrative points forward to the specific geographical boundaries that are about to be described.
  20. finibus — Lemma: finis; Part of Speech: Noun; Form: Ablative plural masculine, third declension; Function: Ablative specifying the boundaries by which the land is delimited; Translation: “limits” or “boundaries”; Notes: In the plural, fines commonly denotes territorial boundaries or limits rather than merely an abstract “end.”
  21. terminabitur — Lemma: termino; Part of Speech: Verb; Form: Third person singular, future passive indicative, first conjugation; Function: Main verb of the clause whose understood subject is the land of Canaan; Translation: “it shall be bounded”; Notes: The passive verb expresses the delimitation of Canaan by the boundaries introduced with his finibus.

 

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.
This entry was posted in Numeri. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.