1 Chronicles 23:3

23:3 The Levites who were thirty years old and up were counted; there were 38,000 men. ¹ 

1 Chronicles 23:27

23:27 According to David’s final instructions, the Levites twenty years old and up were counted. ² 

Numbers 1:3

1:3 You and Aaron are to number ³  all in Israel who can serve in the army, ⁴  those who are ⁵  twenty years old or older, ⁶  by their divisions. ⁷ 

Numbers 4:3

4:3 from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, all who enter the company ⁸  to do the work in the tent of meeting.

Numbers 8:24

8:24 “This is what pertains to the Levites: ⁹  At the age of twenty-five years ¹⁰  and upward one may begin to join the company ¹¹  in the work of the tent of meeting,

Ezra 3:8

3:8 In the second year after they had come to the temple of God in Jerusalem, ¹²  in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak initiated the work, ¹³  along with the rest of their associates, ¹⁴  the priests and the Levites, and all those who were coming to Jerusalem from the exile. They appointed ¹⁵  the Levites who were at least twenty years old ¹⁶  to take charge of the work on the Lord’s temple.

¹ tn Heb “and their number by their heads, by men, was 38,000.”

² tn Heb “for by the final words of David, they were the number of the sons of Levi, from a son of twenty years and upward.”

³ tn The verb (פָּקַד, paqad) means “to visit, appoint, muster, number.” The word is a common one in scripture. It has as its basic meaning the idea of “determining the destiny” of someone, by appointing, mustering, or visiting. When God “visits,” it is a divine intervention for either blessing or cursing. Here it is the taking of a census for war (see G. André, Determining the Destiny [ConBOT], 16).

⁴ tn The construction uses the participle “going out” followed by the noun “army.” It describes everyone “going out in a military group,” meaning serving in the army. It was the duty of every able-bodied Israelite to serve in this “peoples” army. There were probably exemptions for the infirm or the crippled, but every male over twenty was chosen. For a discussion of warfare, see P. C. Craigie, The Problem of War in the Old Testament, and P. D. Miller, “The Divine Council and the Prophetic Call to War,” VT 18 (1968): 100-107.

⁵ tn The text simply has “from twenty years old and higher.”

⁶ tn Heb “and up.”

⁷ tn The noun (צָבָא, tsava’) means “army” or “military group.” But the word can also be used for nonmilitary divisions of labor (Num 4:3).

⁸ tn The word “company” is literally “host, army” (צָבָא, tsava’). The repetition of similar expressions makes the translation difficult: Heb “all [who] come to the host to do work in the tent.”

⁹ tn The Hebrew text has “this [is that] which [pertains] to the Levites.” “This is what concerns the Levites, meaning, the following rulings are for them.

¹⁰ tc The age of twenty-five indicated in v. 24 should be compared with the age of thirty indicated in Num 4:3,23,30. In order to harmonize the numbers given in chapter 4 with the number given in Num 8:24 the LXX (and perhaps its Hebrew Vorlage) has thirty in all of these references. See further G. J. Wenham, Numbers (TOTC 4), 97-98.

¹¹ tn The infinitive is לִצְבֹא (litsvo’), related to the word for “host, army, company,” and so “to serve as a company.” The meaning is strengthened by the cognate accusative following it.

¹² map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹³ tn Heb “began”; the phrase “the work” is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.

¹⁴ tn Heb “their brothers.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “stood.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “from twenty years and upward.”