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 18:21

18:21 See, I have given the Levites all the tithes in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they perform – the service of the tent of meeting.

Numbers 21:1

Victory at Hormah

21:1 ⁷ When the Canaanite king of Arad ⁸  who lived in the Negev ⁹  heard that Israel was approaching along the road to Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them prisoner.

Numbers 23:21

23:21 He ¹⁰  has not looked on iniquity in Jacob, ¹¹ 

nor has he seen trouble ¹²  in Israel.

The Lord their God is with them;

his acclamation ¹³  as king is among them.

Numbers 23:23

23:23 For there is no spell against ¹⁴  Jacob,

nor is there any divination against Israel.

At this time ¹⁵  it must be said ¹⁶  of Jacob

and of Israel, ‘Look at ¹⁷  what God has done!’

Numbers 26:2

26:2 “Take a census of the whole community of Israelites, from twenty years old and upward, by their clans, ¹⁸  everyone who can serve in the army of Israel.” ¹⁹ 

Numbers 32:13

32:13 So the Lord’s anger was kindled against the Israelites, and he made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until all that generation that had done wickedly before ²⁰  the Lord was finished. ²¹ 

[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).

[21:1]  ¹¹ sn This chapter has several events in it: the victory over Arad (vv. 1-3), the plague of serpents (vv. 4-9), the approach to Moab (vv. 10-20), and the victory over Sihon and Og (vv. 21-35). For information, see D. M. Gunn, “The ‘Battle Report’: Oral or Scribal Convention.” JBL 93 (1974): 513-18; and of the extensive literature on the archaeological site, see EAEHL 1:74-89.

[21:1]  ¹² sn The name Arad probably refers to a place a number of miles away from Tel Arad in southern Israel. The name could also refer to the whole region (like Edom).

[21:1]  ¹³ tn Or “the south”; “Negev” has become a technical name for the southern desert region and is still in use in modern times.

[23:21]  ¹⁶ tn These could be understood as impersonal and so rendered “no one has discovered.”

[23:21]  ¹⁷ sn The line could mean that God has regarded Israel as the ideal congregation without any blemish or flaw. But it could also mean that God has not looked on their iniquity, meaning, held it against them.

[23:21]  ¹⁸ tn The word means “wrong, misery, trouble.” It can mean the idea of “disaster” as well, for that too is trouble. Here it is parallel to “iniquity” and so has the connotation of something that would give God reason to curse them.

[23:21]  ¹⁹ tn The people are blessed because God is their king. In fact, the shout of acclamation is among them – they are proclaiming the Lord God as their king. The word is used normally for the sound of the trumpet, but also of battle shouts, and then here acclamation. This would represent their conviction that Yahweh is king. On the usage of this Hebrew word see further BDB 929-30 s.v. תְּרוּעָה; HALOT 1790-91 s.v.

[23:23]  ²¹ tn Or “in Jacob.” But given the context the meaning “against” is preferable. The words describe two techniques of consulting God; the first has to do with observing omens in general (“enchantments”), and the second with casting lots or arrows of the like (“divinations” [Ezek 21:26]). See N. H. Snaith, Leviticus and Numbers (NCB), 295-96.

[23:23]  ²² tn The form is the preposition “like, as” and the word for “time” – according to the time, about this time, now.

[23:23]  ²³ tn The Niphal imperfect here carries the nuance of obligation – one has to say in amazement that God has done something marvelous or “it must be said.”

[23:23]  ²⁴ tn The words “look at” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.

[26:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “house of their fathers.”

[26:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “everyone who goes out in the army in Israel.”

[32:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “in the eyes of.”

[32:13]  ³² tn The verb is difficult to translate, since it has the idea of “complete, finish” (תָּמָם, tamam). It could be translated “consumed” in this passage (so KJV, ASV); NASB “was destroyed.”