² “Take a census of the whole congregation of Israelites, in their clans, by ancestral houses, according to the number of names, every male individually,^(A)

²⁶ a beka a head (that is, half a shekel, measured by the sanctuary shekel) for everyone who was counted in the census, from twenty years old and up, for six hundred three thousand, five hundred fifty men.^(A)

¹² “When you take a census of the Israelites to register them, at registration all of them shall give a ransom for their lives to the Lord, so that no plague may come upon them for being registered.^(A)

¹⁸ and on the first day of the second month they assembled the whole congregation together. They registered themselves in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names from twenty years old and up, individually,

² “Take a census of the whole congregation of the Israelites, from twenty years old and up, by their ancestral houses, everyone in Israel able to go to war.”^{(A) 3} Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, ⁴ “Take a census of the people,^[a] from twenty years old and up,” as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Israelites who came out of the land of Egypt were:

²² The descendants of Simeon, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, those of them who were numbered, according to the number of names, individually, every male from twenty years old and up, everyone able to go to war:^(A)

²³ David did not count those below twenty years of age, for the Lord had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars of heaven.^{(A) 24} Joab son of Zeruiah began to count them but did not finish, yet wrath came upon Israel for this, and the number was not entered into the account of the Annals of King David.^(B)

The Census and Plague

21 Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to count the people of Israel.^{(A) 2} So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Go, number Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, and bring me a report, so that I may know their number.”^(B)

David’s Census of Israel and Judah

24 Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, count the people of Israel and Judah.”^{(A) 2} So the king said to Joab and the commanders of the army^[a] who were with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and take a census of the people, so that I may know how many there are.”^{(B) 3} But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God increase the number of the people a hundredfold while the eyes of my lord the king can still see it! But why does my lord the king want to do this?”

⁶³ These were those enrolled by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who enrolled the Israelites in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. ⁶⁴ Among these there was not one of those enrolled by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had enrolled the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai.^(A)