Numbers 1
New King James Version
The First Census of Israel(A)
1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses (B)in the Wilderness of Sinai, (C)in the tabernacle of meeting, on the (D)first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying: 2 (E)“Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male (F)individually, 3 from (G)twenty years old and above—all who are able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their armies. 4 And with you there shall be a man from every tribe, each one the head of his father’s house.
5 “These are the names of the men who shall stand with you: from Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur; 6 from Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai; 7 from Judah, Nahshon the son of Amminadab; 8 from Issachar, Nethanel the son of Zuar; 9 from Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon; 10 from the sons of Joseph: from Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud; from Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur; 11 from Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni; 12 from Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai; 13 from Asher, Pagiel the son of Ocran; 14 from Gad, Eliasaph the son of (H)Deuel;[a] 15 from Naphtali, Ahira the son of Enan.” 16 (I)These were (J)chosen[b] from the congregation, leaders of their fathers’ tribes, (K)heads of the divisions in Israel.
17 Then Moses and Aaron took these men who had been [c]mentioned (L)by name, 18 and they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they recited their (M)ancestry by families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, each one individually. 19 As the Lord commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the Wilderness of Sinai.
20 Now the (N)children of Reuben, Israel’s oldest son, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, every male individually, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: 21 those who were numbered of the tribe of Reuben were forty-six thousand five hundred.
22 From the (O)children of Simeon, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, of those who were numbered, according to the number of names, every male individually, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: 23 those who were numbered of the tribe of Simeon were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.
24 From the (P)children of Gad, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: 25 those who were numbered of the tribe of Gad were forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty.
26 From the (Q)children of Judah, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: 27 those who were numbered of the tribe of Judah were (R)seventy-four thousand six hundred.
28 From the (S)children of Issachar, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: 29 those who were numbered of the tribe of Issachar were fifty-four thousand four hundred.
30 From the (T)children of Zebulun, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: 31 those who were numbered of the tribe of Zebulun were fifty-seven thousand four hundred.
32 From the sons of Joseph, the (U)children of Ephraim, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: 33 those who were numbered of the tribe of Ephraim were forty thousand five hundred.
34 From the (V)children of Manasseh, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: 35 those who were numbered of the tribe of Manasseh were thirty-two thousand two hundred.
36 From the (W)children of Benjamin, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: 37 those who were numbered of the tribe of Benjamin were thirty-five thousand four hundred.
38 From the (X)children of Dan, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: 39 those who were numbered of the tribe of Dan were sixty-two thousand seven hundred.
40 From the (Y)children of Asher, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: 41 those who were numbered of the tribe of Asher were forty-one thousand five hundred.
42 From the children of Naphtali, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: 43 those who were numbered of the tribe of Naphtali were fifty-three thousand four hundred.
44 (Z)These are the ones who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, with the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each one representing his father’s house. 45 So all who were numbered of the children of Israel, by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war in Israel— 46 all who were numbered were (AA)six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.
47 But (AB)the Levites were not numbered among them by their fathers’ tribe; 48 for the Lord had spoken to Moses, saying: 49 (AC)“Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, nor take a census of them among the children of Israel; 50 (AD)but you shall appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the Testimony, over all its furnishings, and over all things that belong to it; they shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; they shall attend to it (AE)and camp around the tabernacle. 51 (AF)And when the tabernacle is to go forward, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it (AG)up. (AH)The outsider who comes near shall be put to death. 52 The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, (AI)everyone by his own camp, everyone by his own standard, according to their armies; 53 (AJ)but the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no (AK)wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel; and the Levites shall (AL)keep[d] charge of the tabernacle of the Testimony.”
54 Thus the children of Israel did; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so they did.
Footnotes
- Numbers 1:14 Reuel, Num. 2:14
- Numbers 1:16 called
- Numbers 1:17 designated
- Numbers 1:53 have in their care
Numbers 1
Complete Jewish Bible
Parashah 34: B’midbar (In the desert) 1:1–4:20
1 Adonai spoke to Moshe in the Sinai Desert, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month of the second year after they had left the land of Egypt. He said, 2 “Take a census of the entire assembly of the people of Isra’el, by clans and families. Record the names of all the men 3 twenty years old and over who are subject to military service in Isra’el. You and Aharon are to enumerate them company by company.
4 Take with you from each tribe someone who is head of a clan. 5 These are the men to take with you:
From Re’uven, Elitzur the son of Sh’de’ur;
6 From Shim‘on, Shlumi’el the son of Tzurishaddai;
7 From Y’hudah, Nachshon the son of ‘Amminadav;
8 From Yissakhar, N’tan’el the son of Tzu‘ar;
9 From Z’vulun, Eli’av the son of Helon.
10 Of the children of Yosef:
From Efrayim, Elishama the son of ‘Ammihud;
From M’nasheh, Gamli’el the son of P’dahtzur.
11 From Binyamin, Avidan the son of Gid‘oni;
12 From Dan, Achi‘ezer the son of ‘Ammishaddai;
13 From Asher, Pag‘i’el the son of ‘Okhran;
14 From Gad, Elyasaf the son of De‘u’el;
15 From Naftali, Achira the son of ‘Enan.”
16 These were the ones called from the assembly, the chiefs of their fathers’ clans and heads of thousands in Isra’el. 17 So Moshe and Aharon took these men who had been designated by name; 18 and, on the first day of the second month, they gathered the whole assembly to state their genealogies by families and clans and recorded the names of all those twenty years old and over, as well as their total numbers. 19 Moshe counted them in the Sinai Desert, just as Adonai had ordered him.
(ii) 20 The men twenty years old and over who were subject to military service were recorded by name, family and clan, starting with the descendants of Re’uven, Isra’el’s firstborn. Here are the totals:
| 21 Descendants of Re’uven | 46,500 |
| 22-23 Descendants of Shim‘on | 59,300 |
| 24-25 Descendants of Gad | 45,650 |
| 26-27 Descendants of Y’hudah | 74,600 |
| 28-29 Descendants of Yissakhar | 54,400 |
| 30-31 Descendants of Z’vulun | 57,400 |
| 32-33 Descendants of Efrayim | 40,500 |
| 34-35 Descendants of M’nasheh | 32,200 |
| 36-37 Descendants of Binyamin | 35,400 |
| 38-39 Descendants of Dan | 62,700 |
| 40-41 Descendants of Asher | 41,500 |
| 42-43 Descendants of Naftali | 53,400 |
44 Moshe, Aharon and the twelve leaders of Isra’el, each from a clan, 45 counted the people of Isra’el by their clans, those twenty years old and over, eligible for military service in Isra’el; 46 and the grand total came to 603,550.
47 But those who were L’vi’im, according to the clan of their fathers, were not counted in this census; 48 because Adonai had told Moshe, 49 “Do not include the clan of Levi when you take the census of the people of Isra’el. 50 Instead, give the L’vi’im charge over the tabernacle of the testimony, its equipment and everything else connected with it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its equipment, serve in it and set up their camp around it. 51 When the tabernacle is to be moved onward, it is the L’vi’im who are to take it down and set it up in the new location; anyone else who involves himself is to be put to death. 52 The rest of Isra’el are to set up camp, company by company, each man with his own banner. 53 But the L’vi’im are to camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that no anger will come upon the assembly of the people of Isra’el. The L’vi’im are to be in charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.”
54 This is what the people of Isra’el did — they did everything that Adonai had ordered Moshe.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.