Numbers 32:35 — Word Study
WLCוְאֶת־ עַטְרֹ֥ת שׁוֹפָ֛ן וְאֶת־ יַעְזֵ֖ר וְיָגְבֳּהָֽה׃
BSAAtroth-shophanʻAṭrôwth Shôwphân [crowns of their rapine, a place of plunder] JazerYaʻăzêyr [originally an Amorite city] JogbehahYogbᵉhâh [a lofty or high place, east of the Jordan River]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| וְאֶת־ | and the object marker | Conjunction, particle |
| עַטְרֹ֥ת | Atroth | Noun proper |
| שׁוֹפָ֛ן | Shophan | Noun proper |
| וְאֶת־ | and the object marker | Conjunction, particle |
| יַעְזֵ֖ר | Jazer | Noun proper |
| וְיָגְבֳּהָֽה׃ | and Jogbehah | Conjunction, noun proper |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, |
| KJV | And Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbehah, |
| ASV | and Atroth-shophan, and Jazer, and Jogbehah, |
| YLT | and Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbehah, |
| WEB | Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, |
| BBE | And Atroth-shophan and Jazer and Jogbehah; |
Where they part company is in the names of the cities, particularly Atroth-shophan and Jazer.
The verse consists of a main clause listing the cities, with each city presented as a separate noun phrase.
4 commentators on this verse
Gill, Jamieson, Cambridge, Whedon & 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 32:35
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 Settlement of the Tribesgenerated
Numbers 32:35 lists the cities that the Gadites built as they settled in the land east of the Jordan River. This passage highlights the efforts of the Gadites to establish themselves in their new territory, which was part of the land promised to the Israelites. The cities mentioned were fortified to protect their flocks and families, emphasizing the importance of security in their new homeland.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Numbers 32:1–3 | Now the Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, surveyed the lands of Jazer and Gilead, and they saw that the region was suitable for livestock. |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 1 reference, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — עַטְרוֹת, 'at.Rotgenerated
The word עַטְרוֹת ('at.Rot) refers to Atroth, a location that signifies 'crowns of their rapine' and is associated with plunder. It is a proper noun that denotes a specific place in the territory of Gad.
The name Atroth appears in the context of the Gadites' settlement, indicating a town that holds historical significance for the tribe. The parsing as a noun proper suggests it is a specific geographical location rather than a common noun.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
This study reads the verse in the Berean Standard Bible, which includes the names of cities with additional descriptions.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The structure of the verse consists of a main clause listing the cities, with each city presented as a noun phrase. The conjunctions וְ (ve) serve to connect the different city names, indicating that they are part of a single list.
The Hebrew word order places emphasis on the cities being built, with the conjunctions linking them together in a straightforward enumeration.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint does not provide a direct translation for this verse, indicating that the translators may have chosen to summarize or omit certain details. The absence of a direct match suggests a different approach to rendering the text.
The word-by-word correspondence shows that the Septuagint's translation choices may reflect a different understanding or emphasis compared to the Hebrew text.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Numbers 32:35 lists the cities that the Gadites built as they settled in the land east of the Jordan River. These cities included Atroth-shophan, Jazer, and Jogbehah, which were fortified to protect their community and flocks.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
Atroth-shophan means 'crowns of their rapine' and refers to a specific location in the territory of Gad.
Jazer was originally an Amorite city and is noted as a Levitical city in the territory of Gad.
The cities were fortified to provide security for the Gadites and their flocks as they settled in their new land.
Jogbehah means 'lofty or high place' and is described as a fortified city east of the Jordan River.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What can we learn from the efforts of the Gadites in establishing their cities?
- How does the significance of these cities reflect the priorities of the Israelite tribes during their settlement?
- What does the historical context of Jazer and Jogbehah tell us about the region east of the Jordan River?
- In what ways can we apply the lessons of building and fortifying our own 'cities' in our lives today?
Commentators on this verse — 4 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Numbers 32:35 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleAnd Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbehah. Of these no mention is made elsewhere, except Jaazer, which is the same with Jazer, Numbers 32:3.
Read John Gill on Numbers 32 →Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryAnd Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbehah, Atroth, Shophan - or Zaphon (Joshua 13:27).
Read Robert Jamieson on Numbers 32 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges34–38. Many of these towns have been identified with some probability. But the list represents a tradition very different from that in Joshua 13:15-28 , and must be ultimately derived from an earlier source, though in its present form it was probably written by a priestly writer. In Joshua 13:15-28 Reuben occupies the position which is ordinarily represented on modern maps, on the south of Gad, the dividing line between them running east from about the northern point of the Dead Sea. But in the present passage Reuben’s position is not so independent. Five of the six towns assigned to them in Numbers 32:37-38 are situated in a district about midway between the Jabbok and the Arnon, and lie…
Read Cambridge on Numbers 32 →Daniel Denison Whedon1808–1885Whedon's Commentary on the Bible35. Atroth, Shophan — Modern scholars agree in the opinion that but one place is intended by these two names. The Seventy omit it altogether. It has not yet been identified. Jaazer — Numbers 32:1, note.
Read Daniel Denison Whedon on Numbers 32 →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
Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,
Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,
Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,
Atroth Shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,
Tyndale line
And Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbehah,
and Atroth-shophan, and Jazer, and Jogbehah,
and Atroth-shophan, and Jazer, and Jogbehah;
And Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbehah,
And Atroth, Shophan, and Iazer, and Iogbehah,
Strictly literal
and Atroth-Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbebah,
and Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbehah,
and Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbehah,
And 'Atroth-shophan, and Ya'zer, and Yogbehah.
Atroth Shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,
From the Latin
And Etroth, and Sophan, and Jazer, and Jegbaa,
Simplified
Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,
And Atroth-shophan and Jazer and Jogbehah;
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 has slight variations in the names of the cities, specifically עטרות שׁפים (Atroth Shophan) and יעזיר (Jazer). The Dead Sea Scrolls also provide variants, with some words restored by editors, indicating some textual transmission issues.
וְאֶת־ עַטְרֹ֥ת שׁוֹפָ֛ן וְאֶת־ יַעְזֵ֖ר וְיָגְבֳּהָֽה׃
1 of the 6 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.
ואת עטרות שׁפים ואת יעזיר ויגבהה
2 words differ from the Masoretic Text: עטרות שׁפים (Atroth Shophan), יעזיר (Jazer)
ואת עטרת שופן [ואת] [יעזר] [ויגבהה]
3 words on the leather — 3 supplied entire by an editor.
[ואת] [עטרות] [שופים] [ואת] יעזר [ויוגבהה]
nothing on the leather here — 1 partly restored, 5 supplied entire by an editor.
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 32:35
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.
אֵת (eth) is primarily a grammatical marker in Hebrew, indicating the definite direct object of a verb. It is not translated into English and typically precedes nouns that are definite. The word is derived from a demonstrative sense of entity, related to the Hebrew word for 'self.' Its Aramaic equivalent is יָת (yat).
אֵת the mark of the accusative, prefixed as a rule only to nouns that are definite
base
H853 אֵת the mark of the accusative, prefixed as a rule only to nouns that are definite
853 'eth ayth
apparent contracted from 226 in the demonstrative sense of
entity; properly, self (but generally used to point out more
definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or
namely):--(as such unrepresented in English).
see HEBREW for 0226
אֵת (et) — [Obj.].
sign of the definite direct object, not translated in English but generally preceding and indicating the accusative
Aramaic equivalent: yat (יָת "whom" H3487)
HC/To — Conjunction · particleHC/To
עֲטָרוֹת and עֲטָרֹת n.pr.loc.
E. of Jordan
W. of Jordan
base
H5855 עֲטָרוֹת and עֲטָרֹת . E. of Jordan
. W. of Jordan
5855 `Atrowth Showphan at-roth' sho-fawn'
from the same as 5852 and a name otherwise unused (being from
the same as 8226) meaning hidden; crowns of Shophan;
Atroth-Shophan, a place in Palestine:--Atroth, Shophan (as if
two places).
see HEBREW for 05852
see HEBREW for 08226
עַטְרוֹת שׁוֹפָן (at.rot sho.phan) — Atroth-shophan.
§ Atroth-shophan = "crowns of their rapine"
a town in the territory of Gad
N-proper — Noun properHNpl
(crowns), a city of Gad. (Numbers 32:35)
עֲטָרוֹת and עֲטָרֹת n.pr.loc.
E. of Jordan
W. of Jordan
base
H5855 עֲטָרוֹת and עֲטָרֹת . E. of Jordan
. W. of Jordan
5855 `Atrowth Showphan at-roth' sho-fawn'
from the same as 5852 and a name otherwise unused (being from
the same as 8226) meaning hidden; crowns of Shophan;
Atroth-Shophan, a place in Palestine:--Atroth, Shophan (as if
two places).
see HEBREW for 05852
see HEBREW for 08226
עַטְרוֹת שׁוֹפָן (at.rot sho.phan) — Atroth-shophan.
§ Atroth-shophan = "crowns of their rapine"
a town in the territory of Gad
HNpl — Noun properHNpl
sho'-fan (shophan).
See ATROTH-SHOPHAN.
Shophan
Hidden, or hollow, a town east of Jordan (Num. 32:35), built by the children of Gad. This word should probably be joined with the word preceding it in this passage, Atroth-Shophan, as in the Revised Version.
(bareness), one of the fortified towns on the east of Jordan which were taken possession of and rebuilt by the tribe of Gad. (Numbers 32:35)
rabbit; hid
אֵת (eth) is primarily a grammatical marker in Hebrew, indicating the definite direct object of a verb. It is not translated into English and typically precedes nouns that are definite. The word is derived from a demonstrative sense of entity, related to the Hebrew word for 'self.' Its Aramaic equivalent is יָת (yat).
אֵת the mark of the accusative, prefixed as a rule only to nouns that are definite
base
H853 אֵת the mark of the accusative, prefixed as a rule only to nouns that are definite
853 'eth ayth
apparent contracted from 226 in the demonstrative sense of
entity; properly, self (but generally used to point out more
definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or
namely):--(as such unrepresented in English).
see HEBREW for 0226
אֵת (et) — [Obj.].
sign of the definite direct object, not translated in English but generally preceding and indicating the accusative
Aramaic equivalent: yat (יָת "whom" H3487)
HC/To — Conjunction · particleHC/To
יַעְזֵר (Ya`azeyr) refers to Jazer or Jaazer, a location east of the Jordan River, associated with the tribe of Gad. The name is derived from a root meaning 'helpful.' It is noted as a Levitical city and was originally an Amorite city, though its exact site remains uncertain.
יַעְזֵר and יַעְזֵיר n.pr.loc. E. of Jordan
base
H3270 יַעְזֵר and יַעְזֵיר E. of Jordan
3270 Ya`azeyr yah-az-ayr'
or Yazer {yah-zare'}; from 5826; helpful; Jaazer or Jazer, a
place East of the Jordan:--Jaazer, Jazer.
see HEBREW for 05826
יַעְזֵר (ya.a.zer) — Jazer.
§ Jazer or Jaazer = "helped"
a Levitical city east of the Jordan, in Gilead in the territory of Gad, formerly an Amorite city; site uncertain
יַעְזֵר (ya.a.zer) — (Sea of) Jazer.
§ Jazer or Jaazer = "helped"
a Levitical city east of the Jordan, in Gilead in the territory of Gad, formerly an Amorite city; site uncertain
N-proper — Noun properHNpl
ja'-zer (ya`zer or ya`zeyr; Septuagint Iazen in Codex Alexandrinus; Iazer): In some cases, e.g. Nu 21:32, the King James Version reads "Jaazer." This was a city of the Amorites East of the Jordan taken, along with its towns, by Moses, and occupied by the tribe of Gad (Nu 21:32; 32:35). The country was very fertile, and its spacious pasture-lands attracted the flock-masters of Gad (Nu 32:1), the southern border of whose territory it marked (Jos 13:25). It was assigned to the Merarite Levites (Jos 21:39; 1Ch 6:81). The place was reached by Joab when taking the census…
(Jehovah helps). [JAAZER, OR JAZER]
Or JAAZER, Nu 21:32, a city of the Amorites, in Gilead; afterwards a Levitical city in Gad. It lay some fifteen miles north of Heshbon, near a small stream, Nu 1:1-36:13 32:1 Jos 21:39 1Ch 26:31 Jer 48:32.
assistance; helper
יָגְבְּהָה (Yogbhah) refers to a location associated with the tribe of Gad, described as a hillock or lofty place. It is noted as a fortified city east of the Jordan River. The term is derived from a root meaning 'to be high' or 'exalted,' though the exact meaning remains somewhat uncertain.
יָגְבְּהָה n.pr. (exalted?) place in the tribe of Gad
base
H3011 יָגְבְּהָה (exalted?) place in the tribe of Gad
3011 Yogbhah yog-beh-haw'
feminine from 1361; hillock; Jogbehah, a place East of the
Jordan:--Jogbehah.
see HEBREW for 01361
יׇגְבְּהָה (yog.be.hah) — Jogbehah.
§ Jogbehah = "lofty"
one of the cities east of the Jordan which was built and fortified by the tribe of Gad
Conj | N-proper — Conjunction · noun properHC/Npl
jog'-be-ha (yoghbechah): A city in Gilead assigned to Gad and fortified by that tribe (Nu 32:35). It lay on the line along which Gideon chased the Midianites (Jud 8:11), and the indication there leaves no doubt that it is represented today by Ajbeihat. The name attaches to 3 groups of ruins which date from Roman times. The position is about 7 miles Northwest of `Amman, and about midway between that city and the town of es-SalT. It stands 3,468 ft. above the level of the Mediterranean.
LITERATURE.
Oliphant, Land of Gilead, 232; Baedeker-Socin, Palestine.
(lofty), one of the cities on the east of Jordan which were built and fortified by the tribe of Gad when they took possession of their territory. (Numbers 32:35)
an exalting; high