Numbers 31:17

31:17 Now therefore kill every boy, ¹  and kill every woman who has had sexual intercourse with a man. ² 

Numbers 3:22

3:22 Those of them who were numbered, counting every male from a month old and upward, were 7,500.

Numbers 3:34

3:34 Those of them who were numbered, counting every male from a month old and upward, were 6,200.

Numbers 18:10

18:10 You are to eat it as a most holy offering; every male may eat it. It will be holy to you.

Numbers 31:7

31:7 They fought against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses, and they killed every male. ³ 

Numbers 31:18

31:18 But all the young women ⁴  who have not had sexual intercourse with a man ⁵  will be yours. ⁶ 

Numbers 1:2

1:2 “Take a census ⁷  of the entire ⁸  Israelite community ⁹  by their clans and families, ¹⁰  counting the name of every individual male. ¹¹ 

Numbers 3:15

3:15 “Number the Levites by their clans ¹²  and their families; every male from a month old and upward you are to number.” ¹³ 

Numbers 3:28

3:28 Counting every male from a month old and upward, there were 8,600. They were responsible for the care ¹⁴  of the sanctuary.

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 ¹⁵  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 31:35

31:35 and 32,000 young women who had never had sexual intercourse with a man. ¹⁶ 

Numbers 1:20

1:20 And they were as follows:

The descendants of Reuben, the firstborn son of Israel: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name individually.

Numbers 1:22

1:22 From the descendants of Simeon: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males numbered of them ¹⁷  twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name individually.

Numbers 3:39

3:39 All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered by the word ¹⁸  of the Lord, according to their families, every male from a month old and upward, were 22,000. ¹⁹ 

Numbers 26:62

26:62 Those of them who were numbered were 23,000, all males from a month old and upward, for they were not numbered among the Israelites; no inheritance was given to them among the Israelites.

[31:17]  ¹ tn Heb “every male among the little ones.”

[31:17]  ² tn Heb “every woman who has known [a] man by lying with a man.”

[31:7]  ³ sn Many modern biblical scholars assume that this passage is fictitious. The text says that they killed every male, but Judges accounts for the Midianites. The texts can be harmonized rather simply – they killed every Midianite who was in the battle. Midianite tribes and cities dotted the whole region, but that does not mean Israel went and killed every single one of them. There apparently was a core of Midianites whom Balaam had influenced to pervert Israel.

[31:18]  ⁵ tn Or “girls.” The Hebrew indicates they would be female children, making the selection easy.

[31:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “who have not known [a] man by lying with a man.”

[31:18]  ⁷ sn Many contemporary scholars see this story as fictitious, composed by the Jews during the captivity. According to this interpretation, the spoils of war here indicate the wealth of the Jews in captivity, which was to be given to the Levites and priests for the restoration of the sanctuary in Jerusalem. The conclusion drawn from this interpretation is that returning Jews had the same problem as the earlier ones: to gain a foothold in the land. Against this interpretation of the account is a lack of hard evidence, a lack which makes this interpretation appear contrived and subjective. If this was the intent of a later writer, he surely could have stated this more clearly than by making up such a story.

[1:2]  ⁷ tn The construction is literally “lift up the head[s],” (שְׂאוּ אֶת־רֹאשׁ, sÿ’u ’et-ro’sh). This idiom for taking a census occurs elsewhere (Exod 30:12; Lev 5:24; Num 1:24; etc.). The idea is simply that of counting heads to arrive at the base for the standing army. This is a different event than the one recorded in Exod 30:11-16, which was taken for a different purpose altogether. The verb is plural, indicating that Moses had help in taking the census.

[1:2]  ⁸ tc Smr lacks the Hebrew word “all” here.

[1:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “the congregation of Israel.”

[1:2]  ¹⁰ tn The tribe (מַטֶּה, matteh or שֵׁבֶט, shevet) is the main category. The family groups or clans (מִשְׁפְּחֹת, mishpÿkhot) and the households or families (בֵּית אֲבֹת, bet ’avot) were sub-divisions of the tribe.

[1:2]  ¹¹ tn This clause simply has “in/with the number of the names of every male with respect to their skulls [individually].” Counting heads, or every skull, simply meant that each person was to be numbered in the census. Except for the Levites, no male was exempt from the count.

[3:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “the house of their fathers.” So also in v. 20.

[3:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you are to/shall number them.”

[3:28]  ¹¹ tn The construction here is a little different. The Hebrew text uses the participle in construct plural: שֹׁמְרֵי (shomÿrey, literally “keepers of”). The form specifies the duties of the 8,600 Kohathites. The genitive that follows this participle is the cognate מִשְׁמֶרֶת (mishmeret) that has been used before. So the expression indicates that they were responsible for the care of this part of the cult center. There is no reason to delete one of the forms (as does J. A. Paterson, Numbers, 42), for the repetition stresses the central importance of their work.

[3:40]  ¹³ tn The verb נָשָׂא (nasa’, “take”) has here the sense of collect, take a census, or register the names.

[31:35]  ¹⁵ sn Here again we encounter one of the difficulties of the book, the use of the large numbers. Only twelve thousand soldiers fought the Midianites, but they brought back this amount of plunder, including 32,000 girls. Until a solution for numbers in the book can be found, or the current translation confirmed, one must remain cautious in interpretation.

[1:22]  ¹⁷ tc Some witnesses have omitted “those that were numbered of them,” to preserve the literary pattern of the text. The omission is supported by the absence of the expression in the Greek as well as in some MT mss. Most modern commentators follow this.

[3:39]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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]).