Numbers 1:2
in Numbers 1“Take a census of the whole congregation of Israel by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, every male, by their polls;
KJV
Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls;
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This verse in Numbers 1
Commentary
5 notes on this verseTake ye the sum, etc. - God, having established the commonwealth of Israel by just and equitable laws, ordained every thing relative to the due performance of his own worship, erected his tabernacle, which was his throne, and the place of his residence among the people, and consecrated his priests who were to minister before him; he now orders his subjects to be mustered, 1. That they might see he had not forgotten his promise to Abraham, but was multiplying his posterity. 2. That they might observe due order in their march toward the promised land.
This site's exposition
the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai
on Numbers 1:1-4
The census is dated one month after the tabernacle was reared, which Exodus 40:17 puts on the first day of the first month of the second year, and nineteen days after this order the cloud lifts at 10:11 and the camp moves. Verse 3 says what the count is for, from twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war, so what is being taken is a muster roll rather than a population. Exodus 30:12 had attached a ransom to any such numbering so that there be no plague, and 2 Samuel 24 records what a count taken without that word cost David.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
It is true, the sums and numbers agree in this and that computation, which is not strange, because there was not much time between the two numberings, and no eminent sin among the people in that interval, whereby God was provoked to diminish their numbers.
Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel,....
(2.) Nor were any to be numbered who through age, or bodily infirmity, blindness, lameness, or chronical diseases, were unfit for war. The church being militant, those only are reputed the true members of it that have enlisted themselves soldiers of Jesus Christ; for our life, our Christian life, is a warfare.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
למשפחתם — [TAKE YE THE SUM OF THE CONGREGATION …] AFTER THEIR FAMILIES — in order to ascertain the number of individuals in each tribe.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
AND THE ETERNAL SPOKE UNTO MOSES IN THE WILDERNESS OF SINAI, IN THE TENT OF MEETING. Because He had interrupted with the commandments about the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee, of which He said that they were spoken in Mount Sinai. Leviticus:1.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שְׂא֗וּ | seu | lift up | H5375 → | 656 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| רֹאשׁ֙ | rosh | [the] head of | H7218 → | 599 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עֲדַ֣ת | ʾadat | [the] congregation of | H5712 → | 149 times |
| בְּנֵֽי־ | benei- | [the] people of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם | lemishpechotam | to clans their | H4940 → | 303 times |
| לְבֵ֣ית | leveit | to [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| אֲבֹתָ֑ם | ʾavotam | ancestors their | H1 → | 1212 times |
| בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר | bemispar | by [the] number of | H4557 → | 134 times |
| שֵׁמ֔וֹת | shemot | names of | H8034 → | 864 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| זָכָ֖ר | zakhar | male | H2145 → | 82 times |
| לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָֽם׃ | legulgelotam | to heads their | H1538 → | 12 times |
שְׂא֗וּlift up
seuH5375 →656 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
רֹאשׁ֙[the] head of
roshH7218 →599 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
עֲדַ֣ת[the] congregation of
ʾadatH5712 →149 times
בְּנֵֽי־[the] people of
benei-H1121 →4930 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖םto clans their
lemishpechotamH4940 →303 times
לְבֵ֣יתto [the] house of
leveitH1004 →2046 times
אֲבֹתָ֑םancestors their
ʾavotamH1 →1212 times
בְּמִסְפַּ֣רby [the] number of
bemisparH4557 →134 times
שֵׁמ֔וֹתnames of
shemotH8034 →864 times
כָּל־every
kol-H3605 →5413 times
זָכָ֖רmale
zakharH2145 →82 times
לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָֽם׃to heads their
legulgelotamH1538 →12 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 38:26a beka per person, that is, half a shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone twenty years of age or older who had crossed over to be numbered, a total of 603,550 men.
it leads to
- Numbers 1:46
And all those counted totaled 603,550.
- Exodus 30:13
Everyone who crosses over to those counted must pay a half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.
- Numbers 1:46
Through
Numbers 1:18and on the first day of the second month they assembled the whole congregation and recorded their ancestry by clans and families, counting one by one the names of those twenty years of age…
it leads to
- Ezra 2:59
The following came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, but could not prove that their families were descended from Israel:
- Hebrews 7:3
Without father or mother or genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God, he remains a priest for all time.
- Ezra 2:59
Through
Exodus 30:12“When you take a census of the Israelites to number them, each man must pay the LORD a ransom for his life when he is counted. Then no plague will come upon them when…
it leads to
- Numbers 31:50
So we have brought to the LORD an offering of the gold articles each man acquired—armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD.”
- 1 Chronicles 27:24
Joab son of Zeruiah began to count the men but did not finish. For because of this census wrath came upon Israel, and the number was not entered in the Book of the Chronicles…
- Exodus 38:25–26
The silver from those numbered among the congregation totaled 100 talents and 1,775 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel—
- 1 Peter 1:18–19
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,
- Numbers 31:50
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.