Numbers 1–6

Chapter 1

The Census of Israel’s Warriors

¹Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on ^athe first of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,

²“^aTake a ¹census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, every male, head by head

³from ^atwenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go out to war in Israel, you and Aaron shall ¹number them by their armies.

⁴“With you, moreover, there shall be a man of each tribe, ^aeach one head of his father’s household.

⁵“These then are the names of the men who shall stand with you: ^aof Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur;

⁶of Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai;

⁷of Judah, ^aNahshon the son of Amminadab;

⁸of Issachar, Nethanel the son of Zuar;

⁹of Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon;

¹⁰of the sons of Joseph: of Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud; of Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur;

¹¹of Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni;

¹²of Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai;

¹³of Asher, Pagiel the son of Ochran;

¹⁴of Gad, Eliasaph the son of ^aDeuel;

¹⁵of Naphtali, Ahira the son of Enan.

¹⁶“These are they who were ^acalled of the congregation, the leaders of their fathers’ tribes; they were the ^bheads of ¹divisions of Israel.”

¹⁷So Moses and Aaron took these men who had been designated by name,

¹⁸and they assembled all the congregation together on the ^afirst of the second month. Then they registered by ^bancestry in their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, head by head,

¹⁹just as ^athe Lord had commanded Moses. So he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai.

^20aNow the sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war,

²¹their numbered men of the tribe of Reuben were 46,500.

^22aOf the sons of Simeon, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, their numbered men, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, ^bwhoever was able to go out to war,

²³their numbered men of the tribe of Simeon were 59,300.

^24aOf the sons of Gad, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war,

²⁵their numbered men of the tribe of Gad were 45,650.

^26aOf the sons of Judah, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war,

²⁷their numbered men of the tribe of Judah were 74,600.

^28aOf the sons of Issachar, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war,

²⁹their numbered men of the tribe of Issachar were 54,400.

^30aOf the sons of Zebulun, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war,

³¹their numbered men of the tribe of Zebulun were 57,400.

^32aOf the sons of Joseph, namely, of the sons of Ephraim, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war,

³³their numbered men of the tribe of Ephraim were 40,500.

^34aOf the sons of Manasseh, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war,

³⁵their numbered men of the tribe of Manasseh were 32,200.

^36aOf the sons of Benjamin, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war,

³⁷their numbered men of the tribe of Benjamin were 35,400.

^38aOf the sons of Dan, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war,

³⁹their numbered men of the tribe of Dan were 62,700.

^40aOf the sons of Asher, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war,

⁴¹their numbered men of the tribe of Asher were 41,500.

^42aOf the sons of Naphtali, their genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war,

⁴³their numbered men of the tribe of Naphtali were 53,400.

⁴⁴These are the ones who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, with the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each of whom was of his father’s household.

⁴⁵So all the numbered men of the sons of Israel by their fathers’ households, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go out to war in Israel,

⁴⁶even all the numbered men were ^a603,550.

Levites Exempted

^47aThe Levites, however, were not numbered among them by their fathers’ tribe.

⁴⁸For the Lord had spoken to Moses, saying,

⁴⁹“Only the tribe of Levi ^ayou shall not number, nor shall you take their ¹census among the sons of Israel.

⁵⁰“But you shall ^aappoint the Levites over the ¹tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings and over all that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall take care of it; they shall also camp around the tabernacle.

⁵¹“^aSo when the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle encamps, the Levites shall set it up. But ^bthe ¹layman who comes near shall be put to death.

⁵²“^aThe sons of Israel shall camp, each man by his own camp, and each man by his own standard, according to their armies.

⁵³“^aBut the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there will be ^bno wrath on the congregation of the sons of Israel. ^cSo the Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.”

⁵⁴Thus the sons of Israel did; according to all which the Lord had commanded Moses, so they did.

Chapter 2

Arrangement of the Camps

¹Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

²“^aThe sons of Israel shall camp, each by his own standard, with the ¹banners of their fathers’ households; they shall camp around the tent of meeting ²at a distance.

³“Now those who camp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah, by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Judah: ^aNahshon the son of Amminadab,

⁴and his army, even their ¹numbered men, 74,600.

⁵“Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar, and the leader of the sons of Issachar: ^aNethanel the son of Zuar,

⁶and his army, even their numbered men, 54,400.

⁷“Then comes the tribe of Zebulun, and the leader of the sons of Zebulun: ^aEliab the son of Helon,

⁸and his army, even his numbered men, 57,400.

⁹“The total of the numbered men of the camp of Judah: 186,400, by their armies. ^aThey shall set out first.

¹⁰“On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Reuben: ^aElizur the son of Shedeur,

¹¹and his army, even their numbered men, 46,500.

¹²“Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Simeon, and the leader of the sons of Simeon: ^aShelumiel the son of Zurishaddai,

¹³and his army, even their numbered men, 59,300.

¹⁴“Then comes the tribe of Gad, and the leader of the sons of Gad: ^aEliasaph the son of ¹Deuel,

¹⁵and his army, even their numbered men, 45,650.

¹⁶“The total of the numbered men of the camp of Reuben: 151,450 by their armies. And ^athey shall set out second.

¹⁷“^aThen the tent of meeting shall set out with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps; just as they camp, so they shall set out, every man in his place by their standards.

¹⁸“On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of ^aEphraim by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Ephraim shall be ^bElishama the son of Ammihud,

¹⁹and his army, even their numbered men, 40,500.

²⁰“Next to him shall be the tribe of Manasseh, and the leader of the sons of Manasseh: ^aGamaliel the son of Pedahzur,

²¹and his army, even their numbered men, 32,200.

²²“Then comes the tribe of ^aBenjamin, and the leader of the sons of Benjamin: ^bAbidan the son of Gideoni,

²³and his army, even their numbered men, 35,400.

²⁴“The total of the numbered men of the camp of Ephraim: 108,100, by their armies. And ^athey shall set out third.

²⁵“On the north side shall be the standard of the camp of Dan by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Dan: ^aAhiezer the son of Ammishaddai,

²⁶and his army, even their numbered men, 62,700.

²⁷“Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Asher, and the leader of the sons of Asher: ^aPagiel the son of Ochran,

²⁸and his army, even their numbered men, 41,500.

²⁹“Then comes the tribe of ^aNaphtali, and the leader of the sons of Naphtali: ^bAhira the son of Enan,

³⁰and his army, even their numbered men, 53,400.

³¹“The total of the numbered men of the camp of Dan was 157,600. ^aThey shall set out last by their standards.”

³²These are the numbered men of the sons of Israel by their fathers’ households; the total of the numbered men of the camps by their armies, ^a603,550.

^33aThe Levites, however, were not numbered among the sons of Israel, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

³⁴Thus the sons of Israel did; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so they camped by their standards, and so they set out,…