Numbers 10:33
in Numbers 10So they set out on a three-day journey from the mountain of the LORD, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD traveling ahead of them for those three days to seek a resting place for them.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And they set forward from the mount of Jehovah three days’ journey; and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting-place for them.
KJV
And they departed from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey: and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days’ journey, to search out a resting place for them.
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This verse in Numbers 10
Commentary
7 notes on this verseAnd they departed from the mount of the Lord three days' journey,...., From Mount Sinai, so called, because the Lord descended upon it, and gave the law from it; so the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan,"from the mount on which the glory of the Lord (or of his Shechinah or divine Majesty) was revealed.''This they left, after they had been nearly twelve months about it, and travelled three days' journey from it before the cloud rested, so as to abide, otherwise is stopped no doubt to give them time to eat their food, and take sleep and rest.
This site's exposition
And they departed from the mount
on Numbers 10:33-34
Three days out from the mountain the ark goes ahead of the column to search out a resting place, while Numbers 2:17 and verse 21 of this chapter put the ark in the middle of the host. Barnes marks the difference and both statements stand in the same chapter. The cloud is over them by day, which began at Exodus 13:21 and which Numbers 9 made the rule governing every move.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
In a thing of this nature, one would think, Moses needed not to have been taught of God: his own reason might teach him the conveniency of trumpets; but the constitution of Israel was to be in every thing divine, and therefore even in this matter, small as it seems. Moses is here directed, 1.
Moses, as the mouth of the congregation, lifted up a prayer, both at the removing and at the resting of the ark; thus their going out and coming in were sanctified by prayer, and it is an example to us to begin and end every day's journey, and every day's work, with prayer. (1.) Here is his prayer when the ark set forward: Rise up, Lord, and let thy enemies be scattered,
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Three days’ journey - Probably a technical expression for such a distance as could not be traversed in a single day, and therefore not without intervals of encampment and due provision: compare Gen 30:36; Exo 3:18; Exo 5:3; Exo 8:27; Exo 15:22. The technical use of the phrase “Sabbath-day’s journey” for another average distance, Act 1:12, is similar. The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them - From Num 10:21; Num 2:17 it would appear that the usual place of the ark during the march was in the midst of the host.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
35, 36. when the ark set forward that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered--Moses, as the organ of the people, uttered an appropriate prayer both at the commencement and the end of each journey. Thus all the journeys were sanctified by devotion; and so should our prayer be, "If thy presence go not with us, carry us not hence" [Ex 33:15].
The ark - went before them - We find from Num 10:21 that the ark was carried by the Kohathites in the center of the army; but as the army never moved till the cloud was taken up, it is said to go before them, i. e., to be the first to move, as without this motion the Israelites continued in their encampments.
The words behind it
17 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיִּסְעוּ֙ | vaiyisu | and they set out | H5265 → | 146 times |
| מֵהַ֣ר | mehar | from [the] mountain of | H2022 → | 546 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| דֶּ֖רֶךְ | derekh | a journey of | H1870 → | 707 times |
| שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת | sheloshet | three | H7969 → | 432 times |
| יָמִ֑ים | yamim | days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| וַאֲר֨וֹן | vaaron | and [the] ark of | H727 → | 202 times |
| בְּרִית־ | berit- | [the] covenant of | H1285 → | 284 times |
| יְהוָ֜ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| נֹסֵ֣עַ | nosea' | [was] setting out | H5265 → | 146 times |
| לִפְנֵיהֶ֗ם | lifneihem | <to> before them | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| דֶּ֚רֶךְ | derekh | a journey of | H1870 → | 707 times |
| שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת | sheloshet | three | H7969 → | 432 times |
| יָמִ֔ים | yamim | days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| לָת֥וּר | latur | to seek out | H8446 → | 24 times |
| לָהֶ֖ם | lahem | for <the> them | ||
| מְנוּחָֽה׃ | menuchah | a resting place | H4496 → |
וַיִּסְעוּ֙and they set out
vaiyisuH5265 →146 times
מֵהַ֣רfrom [the] mountain of
meharH2022 →546 times
יְהוָ֔הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
דֶּ֖רֶךְa journey of
derekhH1870 →707 times
שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁתthree
sheloshetH7969 →432 times
יָמִ֑יםdays
yamimH3117 →2304 times
וַאֲר֨וֹןand [the] ark of
vaaronH727 →202 times
בְּרִית־[the] covenant of
berit-H1285 →284 times
יְהוָ֜הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
נֹסֵ֣עַ[was] setting out
nosea'H5265 →146 times
לִפְנֵיהֶ֗ם<to> before them
lifneihemH6440 →2123 times
דֶּ֚רֶךְa journey of
derekhH1870 →707 times
שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁתthree
sheloshetH7969 →432 times
יָמִ֔יםdays
yamimH3117 →2304 times
לָת֥וּרto seek out
laturH8446 →24 times
לָהֶ֖םfor <the> them
lahem
מְנוּחָֽה׃a resting place
menuchahH4496 →
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
Exodus 3:1Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 19:8
So he got up and ate and drank. And strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
- Exodus 17:6
Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in…
- Psalms 78:70–72
He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds;
- Numbers 10:29
Then Moses said to Hobab, the son of Moses’ father-in-law Reuel the Midianite, “We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said: ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us,…
- 1 Kings 19:8
Through
Deuteronomy 1:33who went before you on the journey, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day, to seek out a place for you to camp and to show you the road to…
it leads to
- Psalms 78:14
He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.
- Nehemiah 9:12
You led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they should travel.
- Psalms 78:14
Through
Numbers 10:12and the Israelites set out from the Wilderness of Sinai, traveling from place to place until the cloud settled in the Wilderness of Paran.
it leads to
- Numbers 12:16
After that, the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.
- Genesis 21:21
And while he was dwelling in the Wilderness of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
- Numbers 12:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; 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); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.