Numbers 10:12
in Numbers 10and the Israelites set out from the Wilderness of Sinai, traveling from place to place until the cloud settled in the Wilderness of Paran.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the children of Israel set forward according to their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud abode in the wilderness of Paran.
KJV
And the children of Israel took their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran.
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This verse in Numbers 10
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThe cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran - This was three days’ journey from the wilderness of Sinai, (see Num 10:33), and the people had three stations; the first at Kibroth-hattaavah, the second at Hazeroth, Num 11:35, and the third in the wilderness of Paran, see Num 12:16. But it is extremely difficult to determine these journeyings with any degree of exactness; and we are often at a loss to know whether the place in question was in a direct or retrograde position from the place previously mentioned.
This site's exposition
on the twentieth day of the second month
on Numbers 10:11-12
Exodus 19:1 brought Israel to Sinai in the third month of the first year, and this verse dates the departure to the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, so the camp at the mountain stood close to eleven months. Everything from Exodus 19 through Numbers 10:10 happens in that one place. The cloud is taken up and the nation moves, which is the rule laid down at Numbers 9:17-23, and no man gives the order.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And the children of Israel took their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
wilderness of Paran--It stretched from the base of the Sinaitic group, or from Et-Tyh, over that extensive plateau to the southwestern borders of Palestine.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The wilderness of Paran - See Gen 14:6 note. The wilderness is mentioned here by anticipation. The earliest halting-places, Kibroth-hattaavah and Hazeroth, were not within its limits Num 11:35; Num 12:16.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
למסעיהם means, in accordance with the regulations set forth for the journeys of their divisions — which should be the first to set out and which the last.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
בחדש השני [IN THE SECOND YEAR] IN THE SECOND MONTH [THE CLOUD DEPARTED] — Consequently you must say that they spent at Choreb twelve months less ten days, since on the New Moon of Sivan (the third month) they encamped there (Exodus:1) and did not journey until the twentieth of Eyar of the following year.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּסְע֧וּ | vaiyisu | and they set out | H5265 → | 146 times |
| בְנֵֽי־ | venei- | [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| לְמַסְעֵיהֶ֖ם | lemaseihem | to journeyings their | H4550 → | 12 times |
| מִמִּדְבַּ֣ר | mimidbar | from [the] wilderness of | H4057 → | 270 times |
| סִינָ֑י | sinai | Sinai | H5514 → | 35 times |
| וַיִּשְׁכֹּ֥ן | vaiyishkon | and it settled down | H7931 → | 129 times |
| הֶעָנָ֖ן | heanan | the cloud | H6051 → | 87 times |
| בְּמִדְבַּ֥ר | bemidbar | in [the] wilderness of | H4057 → | 270 times |
| פָּארָֽן׃ | paran | Paran | H6290 → | 11 times |
וַיִּסְע֧וּand they set out
vaiyisuH5265 →146 times
בְנֵֽי־[the] people of
venei-H1121 →4930 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֛לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
לְמַסְעֵיהֶ֖םto journeyings their
lemaseihemH4550 →12 times
מִמִּדְבַּ֣רfrom [the] wilderness of
mimidbarH4057 →270 times
סִינָ֑יSinai
sinaiH5514 →35 times
וַיִּשְׁכֹּ֥ןand it settled down
vaiyishkonH7931 →129 times
הֶעָנָ֖ןthe cloud
heananH6051 →87 times
בְּמִדְבַּ֥רin [the] wilderness of
bemidbarH4057 →270 times
פָּארָֽן׃Paran
paranH6290 →11 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Numbers 12:16After that, the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.
it leads to
- Numbers 11:35
From Kibroth-hattaavah the people moved on to Hazeroth, where they remained for some time.
- Numbers 33:18
They set out from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah.
- Numbers 11:35
Through
Numbers 1:1On the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in…
it leads to
- Exodus 25:22
And I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony; I will speak with you about all that I command you…
- Exodus 25:22
Through
Genesis 21:21And while he was dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
it leads to
- Numbers 13:26
and they went back to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for the whole congregation and showed them the fruit…
- Genesis 26:34–35
When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.
- Judges 14:2
So he returned and told his father and mother, “I have seen a daughter of the Philistines in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”
- Genesis 24:3–4
and I will have you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites…
- 1 Corinthians 7:38
So then, he who marries the virgin does well, but he who does not marry her does even better.
- Numbers 13:26
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch.