Numbers 1 - 4 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Census of Israel’s Warriors

1Then ¹Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on ^athe first of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, ²“^aTake a ¹census 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 ³from ^atwenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go out to war in Israel, you and Aaron shall ¹number them by their armies. ⁴“With you, moreover, there shall be a man of each tribe, ^aeach one head of his father’s household. ⁵“These then are the names of the men who shall stand with you: ^aof Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur;

⁶of Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai; ⁷of Judah, ^aNahshon the son of Amminadab; ⁸of Issachar, Nethanel the son of Zuar; ⁹of Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon; ¹⁰of the sons of Joseph: of Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud; of Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur; ¹¹of Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni; ¹²of Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai; ¹³of Asher, Pagiel the son of Ochran; ¹⁴of Gad, Eliasaph the son of ^aDeuel; ¹⁵of Naphtali, Ahira the son of Enan.

¹⁶“These are they who were ^acalled upon by the congregation, the leaders of their fathers’ tribes; they were the ^bheads of ¹divisions of Israel.”

¹⁷So Moses and Aaron took these men who had been designated by name, ¹⁸and they assembled all the congregation together on the ^afirst of the second month. Then they registered by ^bgenealogy in their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, head by head, ¹⁹just as ^aYahweh had commanded Moses. So he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai.

²⁰^aNow the sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, their genealogical registration 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 out to war, ²¹their numbered men of the tribe of Reuben were 46,500.

²²^aOf the sons of Simeon, their genealogical registration 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, ^bwhoever was able to go out to war, ²³their numbered men of the tribe of Simeon were 59,300.

²⁴^aOf the sons of Gad, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war, ²⁵their numbered men of the tribe of Gad were 45,650.

²⁶^aOf the sons of Judah, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war, ²⁷their numbered men of the tribe of Judah were 74,600.

²⁸^aOf the sons of Issachar, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war, ²⁹their numbered men of the tribe of Issachar were 54,400.

³⁰^aOf the sons of Zebulun, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war, ³¹their numbered men of the tribe of Zebulun were 57,400.

³²^aOf the sons of Joseph, namely, of the sons of Ephraim, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war, ³³their numbered men of the tribe of Ephraim were 40,500.

³⁴^aOf the sons of Manasseh, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war, ³⁵their numbered men of the tribe of Manasseh were 32,200.

³⁶^aOf the sons of Benjamin, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war, ³⁷their numbered men of the tribe of Benjamin were 35,400.

³⁸^aOf the sons of Dan, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war, ³⁹their numbered men of the tribe of Dan were 62,700.

⁴⁰^aOf the sons of Asher, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war, ⁴¹their numbered men of the tribe of Asher were 41,500.

⁴²^aOf the sons of Naphtali, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war, ⁴³their numbered men of the tribe of Naphtali were 53,400.

⁴⁴These are the ones who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, with the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each of whom was of his father’s household. ⁴⁵So all the numbered men of the sons of Israel by their fathers’ households, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war in Israel, ⁴⁶even all the numbered men were ^a603,550.

Levites Not Numbered in the Census

⁴⁷^aThe Levites, however, were not numbered among them by their fathers’ tribe. ⁴⁸Yahweh had spoken to Moses, saying, ⁴⁹“Only the tribe of Levi ^ayou shall not number, nor shall you take their ¹census among the sons of Israel. ⁵⁰“But you shall ^aappoint the Levites over the ¹tabernacle of the testimony and over all its furnishings and over all that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall attend to it; they shall also camp around the tabernacle. ⁵¹“^aSo when the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle encamps, the Levites shall set it up. But ^bthe ¹layman who comes near shall be put to death. ⁵²“^aAnd the sons of Israel shall camp, each man by his own camp, and each man by his own standard, according to their armies. ⁵³“^aBut the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony so that there will be ^bno wrath on the congregation of the sons of Israel. ^cSo the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.” ⁵⁴Thus the sons of Israel did; according to all which Yahweh had commanded Moses, so they did.

Israel Camped by Their Standards

2Now Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²“^aThe sons of Israel shall camp, each by his own standard, with the ¹banners of their fathers’ households; they shall camp around the tent of meeting ²at a distance. ³“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: ^aNahshon the son of Amminadab, ⁴and his army, even their ¹numbered men, 74,600. ⁵“Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar, and the leader of the sons of Issachar: ^aNethanel the son of Zuar, ⁶and his army, even his numbered men, 54,400. ⁷“Then the tribe of Zebulun, and the leader of the sons of Zebulun: ^aEliab the son of Helon, ⁸and his army, even his numbered men, 57,400. ⁹“The total of the numbered men of the camp of Judah: 186,400, by their armies. ^aThey 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: ^aElizur the son of Shedeur, ¹¹and 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: ^aShelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, ¹³and his army, even their numbered men, 59,300. ¹⁴“Then the tribe of Gad, and the leader of the sons of Gad: ^aEliasaph the son of ¹Deuel, ¹⁵and 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 ^athey shall set out second.

¹⁷“^aThen 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 ^aEphraim by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Ephraim: ^bElishama the son of Ammihud, ¹⁹and 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: ^aGamaliel the son of Pedahzur, ²¹and his army, even their numbered men, 32,200. ²²“Then the tribe of ^aBenjamin, and the leader of the sons of Benjamin: ^bAbidan the son of Gideoni, ²³and 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 ^athey 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: ^aAhiezer the son of Ammishaddai, ²⁶and 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: ^aPagiel the son of Ochran, ²⁸and his army, even their numbered men, 41,500. ²⁹“Then the tribe of ^aNaphtali, and the leader of the sons of Naphtali: ^bAhira the son of Enan, ³⁰and his army, even their numbered men, 53,400. ³¹“The total of the numbered men of the camp of Dan was 157,600. ^aThey shall set out last by their standards.”

³²These 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, ^a603,550. ³³^aThe Levites, however, were not numbered among the sons of Israel, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. ³⁴Thus 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.

Priests and Levites

3^aNow these are the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when Yahweh spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. ²^aThese then are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ³These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the ^aanointed priests, whom he ¹ordained to minister as priests. ⁴^aBut Nadab and Abihu died before Yahweh when they offered strange fire before Yahweh in the wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests ¹in the lifetime of their father Aaron.

⁵Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶“^aBring the tribe of Levi near and have them stand before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. ⁷“And they shall keep his responsibility and the responsibility for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to perform the ^aservice of the tabernacle. ⁸“They shall also keep all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the responsibility of the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the ¹tabernacle. ⁹“You shall thus ^agive the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel. ¹⁰“So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that ^athey may keep their priesthood, but ^bthe ¹outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

¹¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹²“Now, behold, I ^ahave taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every ^bfirstborn, the first offspring of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine. ¹³“For ^aall the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from man to beast. They shall be Mine; I am Yahweh.”

¹⁴Then Yahweh spoke to Moses ^ain the wilderness of Sinai, saying, ¹⁵“¹^,^aNumber the sons of Levi by their fathers’ households, by their families; every male from a month old and upward you shall ²number.” ¹⁶So Moses numbered them according to the ¹word of Yahweh, just as he had been commanded. ¹⁷^aThese then are the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon and Kohath and Merari.

¹⁸And these are the names of the ^asons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei; ¹⁹and the sons of Kohath by their families: Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel; ²⁰and the sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their fathers’ households.

²¹Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimeites; these were the families of the Gershonites. ²²Their numbered men, in the numbering of every male from a month old and upward, even their numbered men were 7,500. ²³The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle westward, ²⁴and the leader of the fathers’ households of the Gershonites was Eliasaph the son of Lael.

Responsibilities of the Priests

²⁵Now ^athe responsibility of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting involved the tabernacle and ^bthe tent, its covering, and ^cthe screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting, ²⁶and ^athe hangings of the court, and ^bthe screen for the doorway of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its cords, according to all the service ¹concerning them.

²⁷Of Kohath was the family of the Amramites and the family of the Izharites and the family of the Hebronites and the family of the Uzzielites; these were the families of the Kohathites. ²⁸In the numbering of every male from a month old and upward, there were 8,600, keeping the responsibility of the sanctuary. ²⁹The families of the sons of Kohath were to camp on the southward side of the tabernacle, ³⁰and the leader of the fathers’ households of the Kohathite families was ¹Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. ³¹Now ^atheir responsibility involved ^bthe ark, ^cthe table, ^dthe lampstand, ^ethe altars, and the utensils of the sanctuary with which they minister, and the screen, and all the service ¹concerning them; ³²and Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was the chief of the leaders of Levi and had the oversight of those who keep the responsibility of the sanctuary.

³³Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites; these were the families of Merari. ³⁴And their numbered men, in the numbering of every male from a month old and upward, were 6,200. ³⁵And the leader of the fathers’ households of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They were to ^acamp on the northward side of the tabernacle. ³⁶Now the appointed responsibility of the sons of Merari involved the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its bases, all its equipment, and the service concerning them, ³⁷and the pillars around the court with their bases and their pegs and their cords.

³⁸Now those who were to ^acamp before the tabernacle eastward, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrise, are Moses and Aaron and his sons, keeping the responsibility of the sanctuary for the responsibility of the sons of Israel; but ^bthe ¹outsider coming near was to be put to death. ³⁹All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the ¹command of Yahweh by their families, every male from a month old and upward, were ^a22,000.

Redemption of the Firstborn

⁴⁰Then Yahweh said to Moses, “^aNumber every firstborn male of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and ¹make a list of their names. ⁴¹“And you ^ashall take the Levites for Me, I am Yahweh, instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the cattle of the sons of Israel.” ⁴²So Moses numbered all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, just as Yahweh had commanded him; ⁴³and all the firstborn males by the number of names from a month old and upward, for their numbered men were ^a22,273.

⁴⁴Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵“^aTake the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel and the cattle of the Levites. And the Levites shall be Mine; I am Yahweh. ⁴⁶“^aFor the redemption price of the 273 of the firstborn of the sons of Israel who are in excess beyond the Levites, ⁴⁷you shall take ^afive ¹shekels apiece, per head; you shall take them in ^bterms of the shekel of the sanctuary (^cthe shekel is twenty ²gerahs), ⁴⁸and give the money, the redemption price of those who are in excess among them, to Aaron and to his sons.” ⁴⁹So Moses took the money of the redemption price from those who were in excess, beyond those redeemed by the Levites; ⁵⁰from the firstborn of the sons of Israel he took the money in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, 1,365. ⁵¹Then Moses gave the money of the redemption price to Aaron and to his sons, at the ¹command of Yahweh, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

Duties of the Kohathites

4Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²“Take ¹a census of the ²descendants of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ households, ³from ^athirty years and upward, even to fifty years old, all who enter the duty of doing the work in the tent of meeting. ⁴“This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting, concerning the most holy things.

⁵“And when the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and they shall take down ^athe veil of the screen and cover the ^bark of the testimony with it; ⁶and they shall put a ^acovering of porpoise skin on it and shall spread over it a cloth of pure ¹blue and shall insert its poles. ⁷“Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall also spread a cloth of ¹blue and put on it the dishes and the pans and the offering bowls and the jars for the drink offering, and ^athe continual bread shall be on it. ⁸“And they shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet material and cover the same with a covering of porpoise skin, and they shall insert its poles. ⁹“Then they shall take a ¹blue cloth and cover the ^alampstand for the light, ^balong with its lamps and its tongs, and its ²trays and all its oil vessels, by which they minister in connection to it; ¹⁰and they shall put it and all its utensils in a covering of porpoise skin and shall put it on the carrying bars. ¹¹“And over the golden altar they shall spread a ¹blue cloth and cover it with a covering of porpoise skin and shall insert its poles; ¹²and they shall take all the utensils of ministry, with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a ¹blue cloth and cover them with a covering of porpoise skin and put them on the carrying bars. ¹³“Then they shall take away the ¹ashes from the ^aaltar and spread a purple cloth over it. ¹⁴“They shall also put on it all its utensils by which they minister in connection with it: the firepans, the flesh hooks and shovels and the bowls, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread a cover of porpoise skin over it and insert its poles. ¹⁵“When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is to set out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them, so that they will not touch the holy objects ^aand die. These are the ¹things in the tent of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶“And the assignment of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is ^athe oil for the light and the ^bfragrant incense and ^cthe continual grain offering and ^dthe anointing oil—the assignment of all the ¹tabernacle and of all that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings.”

¹⁷Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ¹⁸“Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites. ¹⁹“But do this to them that they may live and ^anot die when they approach the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons shall go in and set each of them to his service and to his load; ²⁰but ^athey shall not go in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.”

Duties of the Gershonites

²¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²²“Take ¹a census of the sons of Gershon ²also, by their fathers’ households, by their families; ²³from ^athirty years and upward to fifty years old, you shall ¹number them; all who enter to perform the duty of performing the service in the tent of meeting. ²⁴“This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in carrying: ²⁵they shall carry ^athe curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and ^bthe covering of porpoise skin that is on top of it, and the screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting, ²⁶and ^athe hangings of the court, and the screen for the doorway of the gate of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords and all the equipment for their service; and all that is to be done, ¹they shall perform. ²⁷“All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their loads and in all their service, shall be performed at the ¹command of Aaron and his sons; and you shall assign to them as a responsibility all their loads. ²⁸“This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting, and their responsibilities shall be ¹under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

Duties of the Merarites

²⁹“As for the sons of Merari, you shall number them by their families, by their fathers’ households; ³⁰from ^athirty years and upward even to fifty years old, you shall number them, everyone who enters the duty of performing the service of the tent of meeting. ³¹“Now this is the responsibility of their loads, for all their service in the tent of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle and its bars and its pillars and its bases, ³²and the pillars around the court and their bases and their pegs and their cords, with all their equipment and with all their service; and you shall assign each man by name the items of the responsibility of ¹his load. ³³“This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service in the tent of meeting, ¹under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

³⁴So Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers’ households, ³⁵from ^athirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the duty of service in the tent of meeting. ³⁶Their numbered men by their families were 2,750. ³⁷These are the numbered men of the Kohathite families, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the ¹commandment of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.

³⁸The numbered men of the sons of Gershon by their families and by their fathers’ households, ³⁹from thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the duty of service in the tent of meeting, ⁴⁰their numbered men by their families, by their fathers’ households, were 2,630. ⁴¹These are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Gershon, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the ¹commandment of Yahweh.

⁴²The numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari by their families, by their fathers’ households, ⁴³from ^athirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the duty of service in the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴their numbered men by their families were 3,200. ⁴⁵These are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the ¹commandment of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.

⁴⁶All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel numbered, by their families and by their fathers’ households, ⁴⁷from thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter to perform the work of service and the service of carrying in the tent of meeting, ⁴⁸their numbered men were ^a8,580. ⁴⁹According to the ¹word of Yahweh by the hand of Moses, they ^awere numbered, everyone by his serving or carrying; thus these were his numbered men, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.