Numbers 1
New American Standard Bible
The Census of Israel’s Warriors
1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on (A)the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, 2 “(B)Take a [a]census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, every male, head by head 3 from (C)twenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall [b]count them by their armies. 4 With you, moreover, there shall be a man of each tribe, (D)each one head of his father’s household. 5 These then are the names of the men who shall stand with you: (E)of the tribe of Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur; 6 of the tribe of Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai; 7 of the tribe of Judah, (F)Nahshon the son of Amminadab; 8 of Issachar, Nethanel the son of Zuar; 9 of Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon; 10 of the sons of Joseph: of Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud; of Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur; 11 of Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni; 12 of Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai; 13 of Asher, Pagiel the son of Ochran; 14 of Gad, Eliasaph the son of (G)Deuel; 15 of Naphtali, Ahira the son of Enan. 16 These are the men who were (H)called from the congregation, the leaders of their fathers’ tribes; they were the (I)heads of [c]divisions of Israel.”
17 So Moses and Aaron took these men who had been designated by name, 18 and they assembled all the congregation on the (J)first day of the second month. Then they registered by (K)ancestry in their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, head by head, 19 just as (L)the Lord had commanded Moses. So he counted them in the wilderness of Sinai.
20 (M)Now the sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, 21 their numbered men of the tribe of Reuben were 46,500.
22 (N)Of the sons of Simeon, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, their numbered men, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, (O)whoever was able to go to war, 23 their numbered men of the tribe of Simeon were 59,300.
24 (P)Of the sons of Gad, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, 25 their numbered men of the tribe of Gad were 45,650.
26 (Q)Of the sons of Judah, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, 27 their numbered men of the tribe of Judah were 74,600.
28 (R)Of the sons of Issachar, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, 29 their numbered men of the tribe of Issachar were 54,400.
30 (S)Of the sons of Zebulun, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, 31 their numbered men of the tribe of Zebulun were 57,400.
32 (T)Of the sons of Joseph, namely, of the sons of Ephraim, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, 33 their numbered men of the tribe of Ephraim were 40,500.
34 (U)Of the sons of Manasseh, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, 35 their numbered men of the tribe of Manasseh were 32,200.
36 (V)Of the sons of Benjamin, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, 37 their numbered men of the tribe of Benjamin were 35,400.
38 (W)Of the sons of Dan, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, 39 their numbered men of the tribe of Dan were 62,700.
40 (X)Of the sons of Asher, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, 41 their numbered men of the tribe of Asher were 41,500.
42 (Y)Of the sons of Naphtali, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, 43 their numbered men of the tribe of Naphtali were 53,400.
44 These are the ones who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron counted, with the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each of whom was of his father’s household. 45 So all the numbered men of the sons of Israel by their fathers’ households, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war in Israel, 46 all the numbered men were (Z)603,550.
Levites Exempted
47 (AA)The Levites, however, were not counted among them by their fathers’ tribe. 48 For the Lord had spoken to Moses, saying, 49 “Only the tribe of Levi (AB)you shall not count, nor shall you take their [d]census among the sons of Israel. 50 And you shall (AC)appoint the Levites over the [e]tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings and over everything that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall take care of it; they shall also camp around the [f]tabernacle. 51 (AD)So when the tabernacle is to move on, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle encamps, the Levites shall set it up. But (AE)the [g]layman who comes near it shall be put to death. 52 (AF)So the sons of Israel shall camp, each man by his own camp, and each man by his own [h]flag, according to their armies. 53 (AG)But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there will be (AH)no divine wrath against the congregation of the sons of Israel. (AI)So the Levites shall be responsible for service to the tabernacle of the testimony.” 54 And the sons of Israel did so; in accordance with all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so they did.
Footnotes
- Numbers 1:2 Lit sum
- Numbers 1:3 Lit muster, and so throughout the ch
- Numbers 1:16 Lit thousands; or clans
- Numbers 1:49 Lit sum
- Numbers 1:50 Lit dwelling place, and so throughout the ch
- Numbers 1:50 Lit dwelling place, and so throughout the ch
- Numbers 1:51 Lit stranger
- Numbers 1:52 Or division
Numbers 1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The First Census of Israel
1 The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,(A) 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,(B) 3 from twenty years old and up, everyone in Israel able to go to war. You and Aaron shall enroll them, company by company. 4 A man from each tribe shall be with you, each man the head of his ancestral house.(C) 5 These are the names of the men who shall 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 the sons of Joseph:
from Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud;
from Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.
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 Deuel.(D)
15 From Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan.”
16 These were the ones chosen from the congregation, the leaders of their ancestral tribes, the heads of the divisions of Israel.(E)
17 Moses and Aaron took these men who had been designated by name, 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, 19 as the Lord had commanded Moses. So he enrolled them in the wilderness of Sinai.
20 The descendants of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, individually, every male from twenty years old and up, everyone able to go to war:(F) 21 those enrolled of the tribe of Reuben were forty-six thousand five hundred.
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:(G) 23 those enrolled of the tribe of Simeon were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.
24 The descendants of Gad, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone able to go to war:(H) 25 those enrolled of the tribe of Gad were forty-five thousand six hundred fifty.
26 The descendants of Judah, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone able to go to war:(I) 27 those enrolled of the tribe of Judah were seventy-four thousand six hundred.
28 The descendants of Issachar, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone able to go to war:(J) 29 those enrolled of the tribe of Issachar were fifty-four thousand four hundred.
30 The descendants of Zebulun, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone able to go to war:(K) 31 those enrolled of the tribe of Zebulun were fifty-seven thousand four hundred.
32 The descendants of Joseph: the descendants of Ephraim, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone able to go to war:(L) 33 those enrolled of the tribe of Ephraim were forty thousand five hundred; 34 the descendants of Manasseh, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone able to go to war:(M) 35 those enrolled of the tribe of Manasseh were thirty-two thousand two hundred.
36 The descendants of Benjamin, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone able to go to war:(N) 37 those enrolled of the tribe of Benjamin were thirty-five thousand four hundred.
38 The descendants of Dan, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone able to go to war:(O) 39 those enrolled of the tribe of Dan were sixty-two thousand seven hundred.
40 The descendants of Asher, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone able to go to war:(P) 41 those enrolled of the tribe of Asher were forty-one thousand five hundred.
42 The descendants of Naphtali, their lineage, in their clans, by their ancestral houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and up, everyone able to go to war:(Q) 43 those enrolled of the tribe of Naphtali were fifty-three thousand four hundred.
44 These are those who were enrolled, whom Moses and Aaron enrolled with the help of the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each representing his ancestral house.(R) 45 So all those enrolled of the Israelites, by their ancestral houses, from twenty years old and up, everyone able to go to war in Israel— 46 all those enrolled were six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty.(S) 47 The Levites, however, were not numbered by their ancestral tribe along with them.(T)
48 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 49 “Only the tribe of Levi you shall not enroll, and you shall not take a census of them with the other Israelites. 50 Rather, you shall appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the covenant and over all its equipment and over all that belongs to it; they are to carry the tabernacle and all its equipment, and they shall tend it and shall camp around the tabernacle.(U) 51 When the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down, and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up. And any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.(V) 52 The other Israelites shall camp in their respective regimental camps, by companies,(W) 53 but the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the covenant, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the Israelites, and the Levites shall perform the duties of the tabernacle of the covenant.”(X) 54 The Israelites did so; they did just as the Lord commanded Moses.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.