to camp
cha.nah denotes setting up camp at a place, including positions taken for travel, battle, siege, or guard.
The verb most often marks a group or person taking up a camp at a named place or position. In hostile settings it describes encamping against a city, people, or opposing force, and in Numbers it can specify an ordered position around the tabernacle.
Senses in use
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Taking up camp at a place or position · dominant
The sequential imperfect forms mark movements followed by a settled location: in Exodus 13:20 the APB renders that the people set out from Succoth and “camped at Etham,” and in Joshua 4:19 it renders that they came up from the Jordan and “camped at Gilgal.” In 1 Samuel 17:1 and 1 Samuel 17:2, opposing groups gather and take positions at separate locations before battle.
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Encamping against an opponent or target · common
In these clauses the camp is positioned in relation to an adversary or place of attack. In Joshua 10:5 the APB renders the gathered kings as having “encamped against Gibeon” before fighting; in Jeremiah 52:4 it renders the army as encamping against Jerusalem and building a siegework around it. Isaiah 29:3 likewise places the first-person sequential perfect in a threat to camp “against you like a circle.”
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Encamping in an ordered surrounding position · occasional
Numbers 1:50 and Numbers 1:53 place the imperfect plural forms around the tabernacle of the testimony; the APB renders the Levites as camping “around the tabernacle” while keeping guard. Numbers 1:52 sets the wider Israelite encampment by each person's camp and standard.
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the cited verses, the APB commonly uses “camped,” “encamped,” or “camping,” and often adds the location or opposing object. Those English choices confirm the clause-level setting rather than independently defining the term.