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Israel Camped by Their Standards

Now Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, (A)The sons of Israel shall camp, each by his own standard, with the [a]banners of their fathers’ households; they shall camp around the tent of meeting [b]at a distance. Now those who camp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah, by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Judah: (B)Nahshon the son of Amminadab, and his army, even their [c]numbered men, 74,600. Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar, and the leader of the sons of Issachar: (C)Nethanel the son of Zuar, and his army, even his numbered men, 54,400. Then the tribe of Zebulun, and the leader of the sons of Zebulun: (D)Eliab the son of Helon, and his army, even his numbered men, 57,400. The total of the numbered men of the camp of Judah: 186,400, by their armies. (E)They shall set out first.

10 “On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Reuben: (F)Elizur the son of Shedeur, 11 and his army, even his numbered men, 46,500. 12 And those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Simeon, and the leader of the sons of Simeon: (G)Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, 13 and his army, even their numbered men, 59,300. 14 Then the tribe of Gad, and the leader of the sons of Gad: (H)Eliasaph the son of [d]Deuel, 15 and his army, even their numbered men, 45,650. 16 The total of the numbered men of the camp of Reuben: 151,450 by their armies. And (I)they shall set out second.

17 (J)Then the tent of meeting shall set out with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps; just as they camp, so they shall set out, every man in his place by their standards.

18 “On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of (K)Ephraim by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Ephraim: (L)Elishama the son of Ammihud, 19 and his army, even their numbered men, 40,500. 20 Next to him shall be the tribe of Manasseh, and the leader of the sons of Manasseh: (M)Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, 21 and his army, even their numbered men, 32,200. 22 Then the tribe of (N)Benjamin, and the leader of the sons of Benjamin: (O)Abidan the son of Gideoni, 23 and his army, even their numbered men, 35,400. 24 The total of the numbered men of the camp of Ephraim: 108,100, by their armies. And (P)they shall set out third.

25 “On the north side shall be the standard of the camp of Dan by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Dan: (Q)Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, 26 and his army, even their numbered men, 62,700. 27 Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Asher, and the leader of the sons of Asher: (R)Pagiel the son of Ochran, 28 and his army, even their numbered men, 41,500. 29 Then the tribe of (S)Naphtali, and the leader of the sons of Naphtali: (T)Ahira the son of Enan, 30 and his army, even their numbered men, 53,400. 31 The total of the numbered men of the camp of Dan was 157,600. (U)They shall set out last by their standards.”

32 These are the numbered men of the sons of Israel by their fathers’ households; the total of the numbered men of the camps by their armies, (V)603,550. 33 (W)The Levites, however, were not numbered among the sons of Israel, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. 34 Thus the sons of Israel did; according to all that Yahweh commanded Moses, so they camped by their standards, and so they set out, every one by his family according to his father’s household.

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 2:2 Lit signs
  2. Numbers 2:2 Or facing it
  3. Numbers 2:4 Lit mustered, so in ch
  4. Numbers 2:14 Many mss Reuel

The wilderness camp’s arrangement

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: The Israelites will camp each under the banner with the symbol of their household. They will camp around the meeting tent some distance from it.

The camp’s east side

On the east side toward the sunrise will be the banner of Judah’s camp with its military units. The chief of the people of Judah is Nahshon, Amminadab’s son. His military unit and those enlisted in it are 74,600. Those camping on one side of him are the tribe of Issachar. The chief of the people of Issachar is Nethanel, Zuar’s son. His military unit and those enlisted in it are 54,400. On the other side, the tribe of Zebulun: the chief of the people of Zebulun is Eliab, Helon’s son. His military unit and those enlisted in it are 57,400. All those enlisted in Judah’s camp with their military units are 186,400. They will march first.

The camp’s south side

10 On the south side will be the banner of Reuben’s camp with its military units. The chief of the people of Reuben is Elizur, Shedeur’s son. 11 His military unit and those enlisted in it are 46,500. 12 Those camping on one side of him are the tribe of Simeon. The chief of the people of Simeon is Shelumiel, Zurishaddai’s son. 13 His military unit and those enlisted in it are 59,300. 14 On the other side, the tribe of Gad: the chief of the people of Gad is Eliasaph, Reuel’s son. 15 His military unit and those enlisted in it are 45,650. 16 All those enlisted in Reuben’s camp with their military units are 151,450. They will march second.

The camp’s center

17 The meeting tent and the Levites’ camp will march in the center of the camps. They will march in the same order as they camp: each in position under his banner.

The camp’s west side

18 On the west will be the banner of Ephraim’s camp with its military units. The chief of the people of Ephraim is Elishama, Ammihud’s son. 19 His military unit and those enlisted in it are 40,500. 20 On one side of him is the tribe of Manasseh. The chief of the people of Manasseh is Gamaliel, Pedahzur’s son. 21 His military unit and those enlisted in it are 32,200. 22 On the other side, the tribe of Benjamin: the chief of the people of Benjamin is Abidan, Gideoni’s son. 23 His military unit and those enlisted in it are 35,400. 24 All those enlisted in Ephraim’s camp with their military units are 108,100. They will march third.

The camp’s north side

25 On the north will be the banner of Dan’s camp with its military units. The chief of the people of Dan is Ahiezer, Ammishaddai’s son. 26 His military unit and those enlisted in it are 62,700. 27 Those camping on one side of him are the tribe of Asher. The chief of the people of Asher is Pagiel, Ochran’s son. 28 His military unit and those enlisted in it are 41,500. 29 On the other side, the tribe of Naphtali: the chief of the people of Naphtali is Ahira, Enan’s son. 30 His military unit and those enlisted in it are 53,400. 31 All those enlisted in the camp of Dan are 157,600. They will march last under their banners.

32 These are the enlisted Israelites by their households. The total enlisted in the camps with their military units is 603,550. 33 But the Levites weren’t enlisted among the Israelites, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 34 The Israelites did everything exactly as the Lord had commanded Moses: they camped under their banners and they marched by their clans and by their households.

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