Numbers 3:39-43

3:39 All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered by the word ¹  of the Lord, according to their families, every male from a month old and upward, were 22,000. ² 

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 ³  the number of their names. 3:41 And take ⁴  the Levites for me – I am the Lord – instead of all the firstborn males among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the livestock of the Israelites.” 3:42 So Moses numbered all the firstborn males among the Israelites, as the Lord had commanded him. 3:43 And all the firstborn males, by the number of the names from a month old and upward, totaled 22,273.

[3:39]  ¹ tn Here again the Hebrew has “at the mouth of,” meaning in accordance with what the Lord said. So also in v. 51.

[3:39]  ² tn The total is a rounded off number; it does not duplicate the precise total of 22,300. Some modern scholars try to explain it by positing an error in v. 28, suggesting that “six” should be read as “three” (שֵׁשׁ [shesh] as שָׁלֹשׁ [shalosh]).

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

[3:41]  ⁴ tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive; it carries forward the instructions from the preceding verse. The verb “take” now has the sense of appointing or designating the Levites.