Numbers 1:3

1:3 You and Aaron are to number ¹  all in Israel who can serve in the army, ²  those who are ³  twenty years old or older, ⁴  by their divisions. ⁵ 

Numbers 1:45

1:45 All the Israelites who were twenty years old or older, who could serve in Israel’s army, were numbered ⁶  according to their families.

Numbers 1:49

1:49 “Only the tribe of Levi ⁷  you must not number ⁸  or count ⁹  with ¹⁰  the other Israelites.

Numbers 2:9

2:9 All those numbered of the camp of Judah, according to their divisions, are 186,400. They will travel ¹¹  at the front.

Numbers 2:16

2:16 All those numbered of the camp of Reuben, according to their divisions, are 151,450. They will travel second.

Numbers 2:31

2:31 All those numbered of the camp of Dan are 157,600. They will travel last, under their standards.”

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 ¹²  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 4:23

4:23 You must number them from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, all who enter the company to do the work of the tent of meeting.

Numbers 4:30

4:30 You must number them from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, all who enter the company to do the work of the tent of meeting.

Numbers 4:32

4:32 and the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their sockets, tent pegs, and ropes, along with all their furnishings and everything for their service. You are to assign by names the items that each man is responsible to carry. ¹³ 

Numbers 7:2

7:2 Then the leaders of Israel, the heads of their clans, ¹⁴  made an offering. They were the leaders of the tribes; they were the ones who had been supervising ¹⁵  the numbering.

Numbers 14:29

14:29 Your dead bodies ¹⁶  will fall in this wilderness – all those of you who were numbered, according to your full number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me.

Numbers 16:29

16:29 If these men die a natural death, ¹⁷  or if they share the fate ¹⁸  of all men, then the Lord has not sent me.

Numbers 26:37

26:37 These were the families of the Ephraimites, according to those numbered of them, 32,500. ¹⁹  These were the descendants of Joseph by their families.

Numbers 26:57

26:57 And these are the Levites who were numbered according to their families: from Gershon, the family of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites; from Merari, the family of the Merarites.

Numbers 31:49

31:49 and said to him, ²⁰  “Your servants have taken a count ²¹  of the men who were in the battle, who were under our authority, ²²  and not one is missing.

[1:3]  ¹ 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).

[1:3]  ² 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.

[1:3]  ³ tn The text simply has “from twenty years old and higher.”

[1:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “and up.”

[1:3]  ⁵ 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).

[1:45]  ⁶ tn Literally the text has, “and all the numbered of the Israelites were according to their families.” The verb in the sentence is actually without a complement (see v. 46).

[1:49]  ¹¹ sn From the giving of the Law on the priesthood comes the prerogative of the tribe of Levi. There were, however, members of other tribes who served as priests from time to time (see Judg 17:5).

[1:49]  ¹² tn The construction has literally, “only the tribe of Levi you shall not number.” The Greek text rendered the particle אַךְ (’akh) forcefully with “see to it that” or “take care that.” For the uses of this form, see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 65, §388-89.

[1:49]  ¹³ tn Heb “lift up their head.”

[1:49]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in the midst of the sons of Israel.”

[2:9]  ¹⁶ tn The verb is נָסָע (nasa’): “to journey, travel, set out,” and here, “to move camp.” Judah will go first, or, literally, at the head of the nation, when they begin to travel.

[3:40]  ²¹ tn The verb נָשָׂא (nasa’, “take”) has here the sense of collect, take a census, or register the names.

[4:32]  ²⁶ tn Heb “you shall assign by names the vessels of the responsibility of their burden.”

[7:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “the house of their fathers.”

[7:2]  ³² tn The form is the Qal active participle from the verb “to stand” (עָמַד, ’amad). The form describes these leaders as “the ones standing over [the ones numbered].” The expression, along with the clear indication of the first census in chapter 1, shows that this was a supervisory capacity.

[14:29]  ³⁶ tn Or “your corpses” (also in vv. 32, 33).

[16:29]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “if like the death of every man they die.”

[16:29]  ⁴² tn The noun is פְּקֻדָּה (pÿquddah, “appointment, visitation”). The expression refers to a natural death, parallel to the first expression.

[26:37]  ⁴⁶ sn This is a significant reduction from the first count of 40,500.

[31:49]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “to Moses”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[31:49]  ⁵² tn Heb “lifted up the head.”

[31:49]  ⁵³ tn Heb “in our hand.”