Numbers 21:19 — Word Study
WLCוּמִמַּתָּנָ֖ה נַחֲלִיאֵ֑ל וּמִנַּחֲלִיאֵ֖ל בָּמֽוֹת׃
BSAand from MattanahMattânâh [a stopping place in the desert] to NahalielNachălîyʼêl [a campsite, a place of rest] and from NahalielNachălîyʼêl to BamothBâmôwth [high places, often associated with idol worship]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| וּמִמַּתָּנָ֖ה | and from Mattanah | Conjunction, preposition, noun proper |
| נַחֲלִיאֵ֑ל | Nahaliel | Noun proper |
| וּמִנַּחֲלִיאֵ֖ל | and from Nahaliel | Conjunction, preposition, noun proper |
| בָּמֽוֹת׃ | Bamoth | Noun proper |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, |
| KJV | And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth: |
| ASV | and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth; |
| YLT | and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, |
| WEB | and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth; |
| BBE | And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth: |
Where they part company is in the details of the names, but all translations agree on the overall journey described.
The sentence outlines a sequence of movements from one place to another, emphasizing the journey's progression.
5 commentators on this verse
Gill, Jamieson, Cambridge, Barnes & more — read them ›
clause
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
Every word here is used elsewhere in the Old Testament.
Bars are logarithmic — אֵת, the commonest word in the Hebrew Bible, stands about 11,000 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.
Deep Study — Numbers 21:19
Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.
Context — The Journey of the Israelitesgenerated
Numbers 21:19 describes the journey of the Israelites as they moved through the desert, highlighting key locations where they camped and rested. This verse specifically mentions the transition from Mattanah to Nahaliel and then to Bamoth, emphasizing the significance of these stops during their travels toward the Promised Land.
Cross References
The Key Word — מַתָּנָה, u.mi.ma.ta.Nahgenerated
The name מַתָּנָה (Mattanah) refers to a location where the Israelites made a stop in the desert. It is derived from the root meaning 'gift', and its interpretation as 'gift of Jehovah' suggests a divine significance to this place in their journey.
Mattanah is mentioned as a station during the Israelites' wanderings, specifically east of the Jordan River. The context of this verse shows its role as a resting point before moving on to the next significant location.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
This study reads the verse in the Berean Standard Bible, so the BSB is the wording every comparison below is made against.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The structure of the verse consists of a series of prepositional phrases, each indicating a transition from one location to another. The main finite verb is implied, as the focus is on the movement between these significant stops.
The sentence is built around the journey of the Israelites, with the locations listed in a sequential manner, emphasizing the order of their travels through the desert.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint translates מַתָּנָה as μανθαναιν, which retains the geographical reference but may reflect a different understanding of the location's significance compared to the Hebrew text.
This choice indicates a continuity in the recognition of these places as notable stops, though the Greek rendering does not provide additional insights into their meanings.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Numbers 21:19 lists the places the Israelites traveled through in the desert: from Mattanah to Nahaliel and then to Bamoth. Each of these locations served as important stops on their journey to the Promised Land.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
Mattanah means 'gift of Jehovah' and refers to a stopping place for the Israelites during their wanderings in the desert.
Nahaliel, meaning 'torrents of God', was a campsite for the Israelites, indicating a place of rest and possibly a source of water.
These locations mark significant stops in the Israelites' journey, each representing a moment of rest and transition as they moved toward the Promised Land.
Bamoth refers to high places often associated with idol worship, indicating a location of both geographical and cultural significance in the region.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What do these locations tell us about the journey of the Israelites?
- How can we understand the significance of resting places in our own journeys?
- What can we learn from the names of these places about God's provision during difficult times?
- In what ways do we recognize the 'gifts' God provides in our lives, similar to Mattanah?
Commentators on this verse — 5 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Numbers 21:19 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleAnd from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth. All the Targums interpret this, and the following verse, not of the journeying of the children of Israel, but of the motion of the well,
Read John Gill on Numbers 21 →Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryAnd from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth: And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah.
Read Robert Jamieson on Numbers 21 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges19. and from Mattanah to Nahaliel] If Budde’s suggestion in the preceding note is correct, the original reading here was perhaps ‘and from thence to N.’, as in Numbers 21:16 after the insertion of the foregoing song, or, following the hint in the LXX. , ‘and from Beer to N.’ Nahaliel is unknown. It means ‘the wady of God.’ G. A. Smith (H. G. [Note: . G. Historical Geography of the Holy Land.] 562) suggests the Wady Zerkâ Ma‘în with its healing springs, which flows into the Dead Sea about midway between its northern end and the mouth of the Arnon. Bamoth] The name means ‘high places.’ These were numerous in the hilly country of Moab, so that the place cannot be safely identified. It is…
Read Cambridge on Numbers 21 →Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the BibleNahaliel - i. e. “brook of God;” the modern Wady Enkheileh. The Israelites must have crossed the stream not much above Ar.
Read Albert Barnes on Numbers 21 →Daniel Denison Whedon1808–1885Whedon's Commentary on the Bible19. Nahaliel to Bamoth — Neither of these can be certainly identified.The former is supposed to be some wady north of the Arnon, and the latter Knobel identifies with “the high places of Baal,” or
Read Daniel Denison Whedon on Numbers 21 →The verse in English, compared — 17 translations, and where they part company
Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.
Modern formal
and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth;
and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth;
Tyndale line
And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth:
and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth;
and from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth:
And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth:
And from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
Strictly literal
and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth;
and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
And from Mattanah to Nachaliel; and from Nachaliel to Bamoth;
From Mattanah they traveled to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
From the Latin
From Mathana unto Nahaliel: from Nahaliel unto Bamoth.
Simplified
From Mattanah they traveled to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from Nahaliel to Bamoth:
Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.
The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the MACULA Hebrew treebank
This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.
Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.
The four witnesses to this verse — Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran
The Masoretic Text is supported by the Samaritan Pentateuch, which agrees word for word. The Septuagint matches all four words, maintaining the same sequence as the Hebrew text.
וּמִמַּתָּנָ֖ה נַחֲלִיאֵ֑ל וּמִנַּחֲלִיאֵ֖ל בָּמֽוֹת׃
4 of the 4 words are matched. This is the word-by-word correspondence, not the Septuagint's own sentence — its word order and its articles are its own.
וממתנה נחליאל ומנחליאל במות
Agrees with the Masoretic Text here, word for word.
Four traditions, not one. “On the leather” means the letters physically survive on the scroll, as against letters an editor has supplied to fill a hole in it — a restoration is a scholar’s reading, not a reading of the manuscript. Words in [square brackets] are supplied; the notes count them apart from what survives.
The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with
This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Hebrew Bible — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.
Lexicons — every word in Numbers 21:19
One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Hebrew lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.
Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. On the Hebrew: Brown-Driver-Briggs entire and its gloss set, Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, and Tyndale House's Translators Brief lexicon. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.
מַתָּנָה (Mattanah) refers to a location mentioned in the Old Testament, specifically a station of the Israelites during their wanderings, situated east of the Jordan River. The name is interpreted as 'gift of Jehovah.' It is linked to another term, H4979, but the entries do not provide further details on its significance.
מַתָּנָה n.pr.loc. a station of Isr. E. of Jordan
base
H4980 מַתָּנָה
4980 Mattanah mat-taw-naw'
the same as 4979; Mattanah, a place in the
Desert:--Mattanah.
see HEBREW for 04979
מַתָּנָה (mat.ta.nah) — Mattanah.
§ Mattanah = "gift of Jehovah"
a station of the Israelites in the latter part of their wanderings located east of the Jordan and probably to the southeast of the Dead Sea
Conj | Prep | N-proper — Conjunction · preposition · noun properHC/R/Npl
mat'-a-na (mattanah; Codex Vaticanus, Manthanaein; Codex Alexandrinus, Manthanein): A station of the Israelites which seems to have lain between Beer and Nahaliel (Nu 21:18 f). The name means "gift," and might not inappropriately be applied to a well in the wilderness (Budde translates "Out of the desert a gift"; see The Expository Times, VI, 482). Some would therefore identify it with Beer. This is improbable. There is now no clue to the place, but it must have lain Southwest of the Dead Sea.
Mattanah
A gift, a station of the Israelites (Num. 21:18, 19) between the desert and the borders of Moab, in the Wady Waleh.
(gift of Jehovah), a station the latter part of the wandering of the Israelites. (Numbers 21:18,19) It was probably situated to the southeast of the Dead Sea.
→ A station of Israel Nu 21:18,19
נַחֲלִיאֵל (Nachaliy'el) refers to a location known as Nahaliel, meaning 'valley of God' or 'torrents of God.' It is described as a station of Israel in the wilderness, situated east of the Dead Sea and north of the Arnon. The name is derived from the roots for 'valley' and 'God.'
נַחֲלִיאֵל n.pr.loc. (= valley—or palm—of Ēl);—station of Isr. E. of Dead Sea
base
H5160 נַחֲלִיאֵל
5160 Nachaliy'el nakh-al-ee-ale'
from 5158 and 410; valley of God; Nachaliel, a place in the
Desert:--Nahaliel.
see HEBREW for 05158
see HEBREW for 0410
נַחֲלִיאֵל (na.cha.li.el) — Nahaliel.
Nahaliel = "torrents of God"
a station of Israel in the wilderness; located north of the Arnon
Another name of le.sah (לֶ֫שַׁע "Lasha" H3962)
N-proper — Noun properHNpl
na-ha'-li-el, na-hal'-i-el (nachali'el, "torrent valley of God"; Codex Vaticanus Manael; Codex Alexandrinus Naaliel): A place where Israel encamped on the way from Arnon to Jericho, named with Mattanah and Bamoth (Nu 21:19). Eusebius, Onomasticon places it near to the Arnon. It is natural to seek for this "torrent valley" in one of the tributaries of the Arnon. It may be Wady Waleh, which drains a wide area to the Northeast of the Arnon; or perhaps Wady Zerqa Ma`in farther to the North.
Nahaliel
Possession, or valley of God, one of the encampments of the Israelites in the wilderness (Num. 21:19), on the confines of Moab. This is identified with the ravine of the Zerka M’ain, the ancient Callirhoe, the hot springs on the east of the Jordan, not far from the Dead Sea.
(torrents of God), one of the halting-places of Israel in the latter part of their progress to Canaan. (Numbers 21:19) It lay "beyond," that is, north of, the Amen, ver. (Numbers 21:13) and between Mattanah and Bamoth, the next after Bamoth being Pisgah.
inheritance; valley of God
נַחֲלִיאֵל (Nachaliy'el) refers to a location known as Nahaliel, meaning 'valley of God' or 'torrents of God.' It is described as a station of Israel in the wilderness, situated east of the Dead Sea and north of the Arnon. The name is derived from the roots for 'valley' and 'God.'
נַחֲלִיאֵל n.pr.loc. (= valley—or palm—of Ēl);—station of Isr. E. of Dead Sea
base
H5160 נַחֲלִיאֵל
5160 Nachaliy'el nakh-al-ee-ale'
from 5158 and 410; valley of God; Nachaliel, a place in the
Desert:--Nahaliel.
see HEBREW for 05158
see HEBREW for 0410
נַחֲלִיאֵל (na.cha.li.el) — Nahaliel.
Nahaliel = "torrents of God"
a station of Israel in the wilderness; located north of the Arnon
Another name of le.sah (לֶ֫שַׁע "Lasha" H3962)
Conj | Prep | N-proper — Conjunction · preposition · noun properHC/R/Npl
na-ha'-li-el, na-hal'-i-el (nachali'el, "torrent valley of God"; Codex Vaticanus Manael; Codex Alexandrinus Naaliel): A place where Israel encamped on the way from Arnon to Jericho, named with Mattanah and Bamoth (Nu 21:19). Eusebius, Onomasticon places it near to the Arnon. It is natural to seek for this "torrent valley" in one of the tributaries of the Arnon. It may be Wady Waleh, which drains a wide area to the Northeast of the Arnon; or perhaps Wady Zerqa Ma`in farther to the North.
Nahaliel
Possession, or valley of God, one of the encampments of the Israelites in the wilderness (Num. 21:19), on the confines of Moab. This is identified with the ravine of the Zerka M’ain, the ancient Callirhoe, the hot springs on the east of the Jordan, not far from the Dead Sea.
(torrents of God), one of the halting-places of Israel in the latter part of their progress to Canaan. (Numbers 21:19) It lay "beyond," that is, north of, the Amen, ver. (Numbers 21:13) and between Mattanah and Bamoth, the next after Bamoth being Pisgah.
inheritance; valley of God
בָּמָה (Bamoth) refers to 'high places' or 'great high place,' specifically a location in Moab near the river Arnon. It is a plural form derived from another Hebrew word meaning heights, and is associated with the place known as Bamoth-Baal, which is mentioned in the context of the Old Testament.
בָּמוֹת n.pr.loc. (high place or great high place) place in Moab
base
H1120 בָּמָה
1120 Bamowth baw-moth'
plural of 1116; heights; or (fully) Bamowth Bahal {baw-moth'
bah'-al}; from the same and 1168; heights of Baal; Bamoth or
Bamoth-Baal, a place East of the Jordan:--Bamoth, Bamoth-baal.
see HEBREW for 01116
see HEBREW for 01168
בָּמוֹת (ba.mot) — Bamoth.
§ Bamoth = "high places" or "great high place"
a town on the river Arnon in Moab
בָּמוֹת (ba.mot) — Bamoth.
§ Bamoth = "high places" or "great high place"
a town on the river Arnon in Moab
N-proper — Noun properHNpl
Bamoth
Heights, the forty-seventh station of the Israelites (Num. 21:19,20) in the territory of the Moabites.