Hebrew word · H4550

מַסַּע

lemas'eihem

journey

A noun from nasa'. It means 'a pulling up (of stakes)', 'breaking camp', and so 'a stage of a journey' or 'one leg of travel'. In the plural with 'their', as here, it means 'by their stages' or 'according to their marching order'.

Appears 12 times in 11 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) a pulling up (of stakes), breaking camp, setting out, journey

1a) pulling up, breaking camp

1b) setting out

1c) station, stage, journey

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Numbers 10:12

Range of meaning

A noun from nasa'. It means 'a pulling up (of stakes)', 'breaking camp', and so 'a stage of a journey' or 'one leg of travel'. In the plural with 'their', as here, it means 'by their stages' or 'according to their marching order'.

Against the English

KJV 'took their journeys' and WEB 'went forward on their journeys' keep the plural. ESV 'by stages' catches the sense well. BSB, NIV and NLT 'traveling from place to place' make clear that there were several moves, but to a modern ear it can sound aimless or improvised, and the Hebrew implies an ordered sequence.

How it drifted

Not a real drift, only a loss of precision. The Hebrew expression is a technical term for organized stages, and 'from place to place' sounds casual.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 13:3: Abram went 'by his stages' (lemas'av) from the Negev. Exodus 17:1 and 40:36–38: Israel moved 'in all their stages' by the cloud. Numbers 10:6: trumpet blasts 'for their setting out'. Numbers 10:28: 'These were the marching orders (mas'ei) of the Israelites by their companies.' Numbers 33:1–2: 'These are the stages (mas'ei) of the Israelites', a list of camp sites. HALOT gives 'breaking camp; stage'.

From the study of Numbers 10:2

Range of meaning

A setting out, a breaking of camp, a stage of a journey. It comes from nasaʿ, 'to pull up (tent pegs)', and so 'to set out, travel'. It is used for the stages of the wilderness journey (Exod 17:1; Num 33:1–2, 'these are the stages').

Against the English

BSB 'having the camps set out', KJV and WEB 'journeying of the camps'. 'Journeying' is right but loses the specific picture of a camp being struck at the start of a march.

Used elsewhere in the period

Numbers 33 lists the journey as a string of massaʿot, 'stages', marked by the verb nasaʿ ('they set out from … and camped at …').

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 13:3 לְמַסָּעָ֔יו to journeyings his

    From the Negev he journeyed from place to place toward Bethel, until he came to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had formerly been pitched,

Exodus · 3

  1. Exodus 17:1 לְמַסְעֵיהֶ֖ם to journeyings their

    Then the whole congregation of Israel left the Desert of Sin, moving from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

  2. Exodus 40:36 מַסְעֵיהֶֽם׃ journeyings their

    Whenever the cloud was lifted from above the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out through all the stages of their journey.

  3. Exodus 40:38 מַסְעֵיהֶֽם׃ journeyings their

    For the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel through all their journeys.

Numbers · 7

  1. Numbers 10:2 וּלְמַסַּ֖ע and for breaking

    “Make two trumpets of hammered silver to be used for calling the congregation and for having the camps set out.

    Here: 'And for the setting-out of'. The root means to pull up tent pegs, so the picture is a camp being struck so the march can begin.

  2. Numbers 10:6 לְמַסְעֵיהֶֽם׃ for settings out their

    When you sound the short blasts a second time, the camps that lie on the south side are to set out. The blasts are to signal them to set out.

    Here: 'For their settings-out.' The noun comes from nasaʿ and is plural, meaning each separate breaking of camp, the stage-by-stage moves later listed in Numbers 33. It does not mean 'journeys' in the sense of trips.

  3. Numbers 10:12 לְמַסְעֵיהֶ֖ם to journeyings their

    and the Israelites set out from the Wilderness of Sinai, traveling from place to place until the cloud settled in the Wilderness of Paran.

    Here: Literally 'by their pullings-up', from the same root as the verb before it. It means they moved stage by stage, and probably also in their set marching order, unit after unit. It does not mean wandering without a plan.

  4. Numbers 10:28 מַסְעֵ֥י [are] [the] settings out of

    This was the order of march for the Israelite divisions as they set out.

  5. Numbers 33:1 מַסְעֵ֣י [are] [the] settings out of

    These are the journeys of the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt by their divisions under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

  6. Numbers 33:2 לְמַסְעֵיהֶ֖ם מַסְעֵיהֶ֖ם to settings out their, [are] settings out their

    At the LORD’s command, Moses recorded the stages of their journey. These are the stages listed by their starting points:

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 10:11 לְמַסַּ֖ע to journeying

    Then the LORD said to me, “Get up. Continue your journey ahead of the people, that they may enter and possess the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.”

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.