Numbers 3:44
in Numbers 3Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
KJV
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
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This verse in Numbers 3
Commentary
4 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
This redemption money (see the marginal references) would perhaps be exacted from the parents of the “youngest” children of the 22,273 Num 3:43. The cattle of the Levites was doubtless taken in the gross as an equivalent for the first-born cattle of the other tribes, which of course, no less than the first-born of men, belonged to the Lord; and in future would have to be redeemed Num 18:15; Deu 15:19.
This site's exposition
And Moses numbered, as the Lord commanded him
on Numbers 3:42-45
Twenty two thousand two hundred and seventy three firstborn are counted, against the six hundred and three thousand fighting men of 1:46, and the proportion is low enough that readers have asked about it for centuries. Some hold that only those born since the night in Egypt were counted, others that the rule reached only a male who opened his mother's womb and so passed over many households, and the text supplies no reason of its own. Verses 44 and 45 then say the whole thing over again, the Levites for the firstborn, their cattle for the cattle, and the Levites shall be mine.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... After the number was taken, and gave him directions what to do upon it: saying; as follows.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The excess of the general over the Levitical first-born is so small, that the only way of accounting for it is, by supposing those first-born only were counted as were males remaining in their parents' household, or that those first-born only were numbered which had been born since the departure from Egypt, when God claimed all the first-born as his special property.
The words behind it
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר | vaydaber | and he spoke | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מֹשֶׁ֥ה | mosheh | Moses | H4872 → | 765 times |
| לֵּאמֹֽר׃ | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
וַיְדַבֵּ֥רand he spoke
vaydaberH1696 →1141 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
מֹשֶׁ֥הMoses
moshehH4872 →765 times
לֵּאמֹֽר׃<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch.