Numbers 3:15
in Numbers 3“Number the Levites by their families and clans. You are to count every male a month old or more.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Number the children of Levi by their fathers’ houses, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them.
KJV
Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them.
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This verse in Numbers 3
Commentary
3 notes on this verseA month old and upward - The males of all the other tribes were numbered, from twenty years and upward; had the Levites been numbered in this way, they would not have been nearly equal in number to the firstborn of the twelve tribes.
This site's exposition
And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness
on Numbers 3:14-16
Levi is counted from a month old and upward while every other tribe was counted from twenty years old and upward at 1:3. The difference follows from what each count is for, since the other tribes were mustered for war and Levi is being matched head for head against a class of firstborn that begins at a month. Numbers 1:47-49 had already kept Levi off the army roll, and Clarke observes that a count from twenty years would have left the tribe far short of the firstborn it was to replace.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And from that time the Levites were consecrated to God, and were, as soon as capable, instructed in their work. Elsewhere they are numbered from twenty-five years old, when they were entered as novices into part of their work, chap. viii, 24, and from thirty years old, when they were admitted to their whole office.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
The reason for this statement is that since Scripture said above in the day that the Eternal spoke with Moses in Mount Sinai, 154 Above, Verse.
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
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| פְּקֹד֙ | pekod | enroll | H6485 → | 303 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּנֵ֣י | benei | [the] descendants of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| לֵוִ֔י | levi | Levi | H3878 → | 59 times |
| לְבֵ֥ית | leveit | to [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| אֲבֹתָ֖ם | ʾavotam | ancestors their | H1 → | 1212 times |
| לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֑ם | lemishpechotam | to clans their | H4940 → | 303 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| זָכָ֛ר | zakhar | male | H2145 → | 82 times |
| מִבֶּן־ | miben- | from a son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| חֹ֥דֶשׁ | chodesh | a month | H2320 → | 284 times |
| וָמַ֖עְלָה | vama'lah | and up -wards | H4605 → | 140 times |
| תִּפְקְדֵֽם׃ | tifkedem | you will enroll them | H6485 → | 303 times |
פְּקֹד֙enroll
pekodH6485 →303 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בְּנֵ֣י[the] descendants of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
לֵוִ֔יLevi
leviH3878 →59 times
לְבֵ֥יתto [the] house of
leveitH1004 →2046 times
אֲבֹתָ֖םancestors their
ʾavotamH1 →1212 times
לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֑םto clans their
lemishpechotamH4940 →303 times
כָּל־every
kol-H3605 →5413 times
זָכָ֛רmale
zakharH2145 →82 times
מִבֶּן־from a son of
miben-H1121 →4930 times
חֹ֥דֶשׁa month
chodeshH2320 →284 times
וָמַ֖עְלָהand up -wards
vama'lahH4605 →140 times
תִּפְקְדֵֽם׃you will enroll them
tifkedemH6485 →303 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
2 Timothy 3:15From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
it leads to
- Psalms 119:98–99
Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are always with me.
- Luke 24:45
Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
- Proverbs 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
- 2 Peter 1:20–21
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation.
- Psalms 119:98–99
Through
Mark 10:14But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and told them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
it leads to
- Matthew 18:4
Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
- Matthew 19:14
But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
- Matthew 18:10
See that you do not look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father in heaven.
- Psalms 131:1–2
My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty. I do not aspire to great things or matters too lofty for me.
- Matthew 18:4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.