Numbers
Chapter 1
1
In the year following that of the Israelites' departure from the land of Egypt, on the first day of the second month, the LORD said to Moses in the meeting tent in the desert of Sinai:
2
1 "Take a census of the whole community of the Israelites, by clans and ancestral houses, registering each male individually.
3
You and Aaron shall enroll in companies all the men in Israel of twenty years or more who are fit for military service.
4
"To assist you there shall be a man from each tribe, the head of his ancestral house.
5
These are the names of those who are to assist you: from Reuben: Elizur, son of Shedeur;
6
from Simeon: Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai;
7
from Judah: Nahshon, son of Amminadab;
8
from Issachar: Nethanel, son of Zuar;
9
from Zebulun: Eliab, son of Helon;
10
from Ephraim: Elishama, son of Ammihud, and from Manasseh: Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur, for the descendants of Joseph;
11
from Benjamin: Abidan, son of Gideoni;
12
from Dan: Ahiezer, son of Ammishaddai;
13
from Asher: Pagiel, son of Ochran;
14
from Gad: Eliasaph, son of Reuel;
15
from Naphtali: Ahira, son of Enan."
16
2 These were councilors of the community, princes of their ancestral tribes, chiefs of the troops of Israel.
17
So Moses and Aaron took these men who had been designated,
18
and assembled the whole community on the first day of the second month. Every man of twenty years or more then declared his name and lineage according to clan and ancestral house,
19
as the LORD had commanded Moses. This is their census as taken in the desert of Sinai.
20
Of the descendants of Reuben, the first-born of Israel, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,
21
forty-six thousand five hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Reuben.
22
Of the descendants of Simeon, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,
23
fifty-nine thousand three hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Simeon.
24
Of the descendants of Gad, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,
25
forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty were enrolled in the tribe of Gad.
26
Of the descendants of Judah, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,
27
seventy-four thousand six hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Judah.
28
Of the descendants of Issachar, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,
29
fifty-four thousand four hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Issachar.
30
Of the descendants of Zebulun, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,
31
fifty-seven thousand four hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Zebulun.
32
Of the descendants of Joseph-Of the descendants of Ephraim, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,
33
forty thousand five hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Ephraim.
34
Of the descendants of Manasseh, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,
35
thirty-two thousand two hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Manasseh.
36
Of the descendants of Benjamin, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,
37
thirty-five thousand four hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Benjamin.
38
Of the descendants of Dan, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,
39
sixty-two thousand seven hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Dan.
40
Of the descendants of Asher, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,
41
forty-one thousand five hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Asher.
42
Of the descendants of Naphtali, registered by lineage in clans and ancestral houses: when all the males of twenty years or more who were fit for military service were polled,
43
fifty-three thousand four hundred were enrolled in the tribe of Naphtali.
44
It was these who were registered, each according to his ancestral house, in the census taken by Moses and Aaron and the twelve princes of Israel.
45
The total number of the Israelites of twenty years or more who were fit for military service, registered by ancestral houses,
46
was six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty.
47
3 The Levites, however, were not registered by ancestral tribe with the others.
48
For the LORD had told Moses,
49
"The tribe of Levi alone you shall not enroll nor include in the census along with the other Israelites.
50
You are to give the Levites charge of the Dwelling of the commandments with all its equipment and all that belongs to it. It is they who shall carry the Dwelling with all its equipment and who shall be its ministers. They shall therefore camp around the Dwelling.
51
When the Dwelling is to move on, the Levites shall take it down; when the Dwelling is to be pitched, it is the Levites who shall set it up. Any layman who comes near it shall be put to death.
52
While the other Israelites shall camp by companies, each in his own division of the camp,
53
the Levites shall camp around the Dwelling of the commandments. Otherwise God's wrath will strike the Israelite community. The Levites, then, shall have charge of the Dwelling of the commandments."
54
All this the Israelites fulfilled as the LORD had commanded Moses.
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Footnotes

1 [2] All Israel was divided into tribes, each tribe into clans, and each clan into ancestral houses.

2 [16] Troops: literally "thousands"; this division of the Israelites, with its subdivisions of "hundreds, fifties and tens," was primarily for military and judicial purposes. Cf Exodus 18:21; 2 Sam 18:1.

3 [47] The Levites were not enrolled in this census, which was principally for military purposes, but a separate census was made of them. Cf Numbers 3:15-16, 39.


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