Numbers 21:19

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth;

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

2 first appearances in the Hebrew Bible
Septuagint runs longer here — compare

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Word by word

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וּמִמַּתָּנָ֖ה

Mattânâh

H4980

“and · from · Mattanah”

Conjunction + Preposition + Noun, Proper

Appears 2× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Numbers 21:18

Full BDB Definition

Origin: the same as H4979

TWOT: None

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

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

4: words
3: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is וּמִמַּתָּנָ֖ה Mattanah H4980 — appearing just 2 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

First appearance in Scripture

These words make their first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

נַחֲלִיאֵ֑ל Nahaliel H5160
בָּמֽוֹת Bamoth H1120

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וּמִמַּתָּנָ֖ה Mattanah H4980 occurs in 2 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Numbers 21:18

Grammatical profile

4 nouns

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

נַחֲלִיאֵ֑ל Nahaliel H5160 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 10 words from the Hebrew and 36 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the Septuagint runs noticeably longer here. See the side-by-side →

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

Here the Septuagint runs noticeably longer than the Hebrew — LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) 36 words vs World English Bible 10. A rough length comparison of the two English translations, not a word-level alignment — read both below.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Numbers 21:19 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וּמִמַּתָּנָ֖ה נַחֲלִיאֵ֑ל וּמִנַּחֲלִיאֵ֖ל בָּמֽוֹת

and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth;

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 21:19 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἀπό μανθαναιν εἰς νααλιηλ καί ἀπό νααλιηλ εἰς βαμωθ

and from Manthanain to Naaliel, and from Naaliel to Bamoth, and from Bamoth to Janen, which is in the plain of Moab as seen from the top of the quarried rock that looks toward the wilderness.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּמִדְאִתְיְהִיבַת לְהוֹן נַחֲתָא עִמְהוֹן לְנַחֲלַיָא וּמִנַחֲלַיָא סָלְקָא עִמְהוֹן לְרָמָתָא

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּמִן דְאִתְיְהִיבַת לְהוֹן לְמַתָּנָא חָזְרַת לְמֵיסוֹק עִמְהוֹן לְטַוְרָא רָמַיָא וּמִטַוְרָא רָמַיָא נַחֲתָא עִמְהוֹן לִגְלִימָתָא מְחַזְרָא לְכָל מַשִׁרְיָיתָא דְיִשְרָאֵל וּמַשְׁקְיָא יַתְהוֹן כָּל חַד וְחַד בִּתְרַע מַשְׁכְּנֵיהּ

And from thence it was given to them in Mattana; turning, it went up with them to the high mountains, and from the high mountains it went down with them to the hills surrounding all the camp of Israel, and giving them drink, every one at the door of his tent.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Numbers 21:19 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

19. 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 Num_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 probably an abbreviation of a compound name, and may be the same as Bamoth-Baal (Num_22:41 marg., Jos_13:17). ‘Beth-Bamoth’ (perhaps the same place) occurs in Mesha’s inscription, known as the Moabite stone. (See Hastings’ DB. iii. 407.) Bamoth was probably a high place not far south of the ‘valley’ of Num_21:20.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites,.... Who were one of the nations of the Canaanites, and a principal and powerful one, and who were devoted to destruction, and their land designed for the people of Israel; see Gen 15:16, at this time Sihon was their king, to whom Moses, in the name of Israel, sent a very peaceable message from the wilderness of Kedemoth, which lay near his country, Deu 2:26,

saying; as follows.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Nahaliel - i. e. “brook of God;” the modern Wady Enkheileh. The Israelites must have crossed the stream not much above Ar.

Bamoth - Otherwise Bamoth-baal, “the high places of Baal” Num 22:41 : mentioned as near Dibon (Dhiban) in Jos 13:17, and Isa 15:2. See Num 32:34.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

See Poole "Num 21:16".

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

19. 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 Bamoth-baal (Num_22:41) on the modern Jebel Attarus, the site being marked by stone heaps. See Jos_13:17, note.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

And from Mattanah to Nahaliel. The latter name, which means "the brook of God," seems to be still retained by the Encheileh, one of the northern affluents of the Wady Mojeb. From Nahaliel to Bamoth. Bamoth simply means "heights" or "high places," and was therefore a frequent name. This Bamoth maybe the same as the Bamoth-Baal of Num_22:41Jo Num_13:17, but it is uncertain. A Beth-Bamoth is mentioned on the Moabite stone.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

Nahaliel ... Bamoth

These are the names of places. (See: How to Translate Names)

Mount Pisgah

This is the name of a mountain. (See: How to Translate Names)

looks down on the wilderness

This is an idiom. It is a way of saying that the mountain is high, and speaks of the mountain as if it were a person who looks down to see the wilderness below him. AT: "rises above the wilderness" (See: Idiom and Personification)

translationWords

Moab

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

וממתנה נחליאל — Understand this as the Targum does: And after it had been given them, it descended into the valley.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Numbers, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 4 words (3 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Mattânâh (“Mattanah”). The Greek Septuagint runs longer here. A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “Mattanah” (Mattânâh) shape what this verse is saying?
2 words make their first appearance in Scripture here. What does this debut establish?
How does Numbers 21:18, which shares the word «Mattanah», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “Nahaliel” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
The Septuagint runs longer here than the Hebrew. What might account for the difference?
Compare how The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges and John Gill's Exposition read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

2 words make their first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
“Nahaliel” occurs 2× in this single verse.
3 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 4 words in this verse.