Numbers 3:40

The Substitution for the Firstborn

3:40 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Number all the firstborn males of the Israelites from a month old and upward, and take ¹  the number of their names.

Numbers 3:43

3:43 And all the firstborn males, by the number of the names from a month old and upward, totaled 22,273.

Numbers 8:20

8:20 So Moses and Aaron and the entire community of the Israelites did this with the Levites. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, this is what the Israelites did with them.

Numbers 9:17

9:17 Whenever the cloud was taken up ²  from the tabernacle, then after that the Israelites would begin their journey; and in whatever place ³  the cloud settled, there the Israelites would make camp.

Numbers 14:33

14:33 and your children will wander ⁴  in the wilderness forty years and suffer for your unfaithfulness, ⁵  until your dead bodies lie finished ⁶  in the wilderness.

Numbers 33:4

33:4 Now the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had killed among them; the Lord also executed judgments on their gods.

Numbers 36:7

36:7 In this way the inheritance of the Israelites will not be transferred ⁷  from tribe to tribe. But every one of the Israelites must retain the ancestral heritage.

¹ tn The verb נָשָׂא (nasa’, “take”) has here the sense of collect, take a census, or register the names.

² tn The verb in this initial temporal clause is the Niphal infinitive construct.

³ tn Heb “in the place where it settled there”; the relative clause modifies the noun “place,” and the resumptive adverb completes the related idea – “which it settled there” means “where it settled.”

³ tn The word is “shepherds.” It means that the people would be wilderness nomads, grazing their flock on available land.

⁴ tn Heb “you shall bear your whoredoms.” The imagery of prostitution is used throughout the Bible to reflect spiritual unfaithfulness, leaving the covenant relationship and following after false gods. Here it is used generally for their rebellion in the wilderness, but not for following other gods.

⁵ tn The infinitive is from תָּמַם (tamam), which means “to be complete.” The word is often used to express completeness in a good sense – whole, blameless, or the like. Here and in v. 35 it seems to mean “until your deaths have been completed.” See also Gen 47:15; Deut 2:15.

⁴ tn Heb “turned aside.”