Numbers 3:39
in Numbers 3The total number of Levites that Moses and Aaron counted by their clans at the LORD’s command, including all the males a month old or more, was 22,000.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
All that were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of Jehovah, by their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty and two thousand.
KJV
All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the Lord, throughout their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty and two thousand.
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This verse in Numbers 3
Commentary
6 notes on this verseAll that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron, numbered at the commandment of the Lord, throughout their families,.... Whence it appears, that Moses was not alone, but Aaron with him, in numbering the Levites, and that by the appointment of the Lord.
This site's exposition
The total number of Levites that Moses and Aaron counted
The total is 22,000, while the three houses add to 22,300, and the redemption of verses 43 to 46 depends on the lower figure. John Gill passes on the answer that 300 Levites were themselves firstborn and could redeem no one else.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
But the odd 300 are omitted here, either according to the use of the holy scripture, where in so great numbers small sums are commonly neglected, or, because they were the first-born of the Levites, and therefore belonged to God already, and so could not be given to him again instead of the other first-born.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
twenty and two thousand - A number on which the commutation with the firstborn of the twelve tribes depends Num 3:43-46. The actual total of the male Levites is 22,300 (compare Num 3:22, Num 3:28, Num 3:34): and the extra 300 are considered by some to represent those who, being first-born themselves in the tribe of Levi, could not be available to redeem the first-born in other tribes. Others consider the difference due to an error in the Hebrew text. The tribe of Levi is shown by this census to have been by far the smallest of the tribes.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The most probable conjecture is, that as Hebrew letters are employed for figures, one letter was, in the course of transcription, taken for another of like form but smaller value.
Which Moses and Aaron numbered - The word ואהרן veaharon, “and Aaron.” has a point over each of its letters, probably designed as a mark of spuriousness. The word is wanting in the Samaritan, Syriac, and Coptic; it is wanting also in eight of Dr. Kennicott’s MSS., and in four of De Rossi’s. Moses alone, as Houbigant observes, is commanded to take the number of the Levites; see Num 3:5, Num 3:11, Num 3:40, Num 3:44, and Num 3:51. All the males - were twenty and two thousand - This total does not agree with the particulars; for the Gershonites were 7,500, the Kohathites 8,600, the Merarites 6,200, total 22,300. Several methods of solving this difficulty have been proposed by learned men; Dr. Kennicott’s is the most simple. Formerly the numbers in the Hebrew Bible were expressed by letters, and not by words at full length; and if two nearly similar letters were mistaken for each other, many errors in the numbers must be the consequence. Now it is probable that an error has crept into the number of the Gershonites, Num 3:22, where, instead of 7,500, we should read 7,200, as ך caph, 500, might have been easily mistaken for ר resh, 200, especially if the down stroke of the caph had been a little shorter than ordinary, which is often the case in MSS. The extra 300 being taken off, the total is just 22,000, as mentioned in the 39th verse.
The words behind it
19 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| פְּקוּדֵ֨י | pekudei | [those] enrolled of | H6485 → | 303 times |
| הַלְוִיִּ֜ם | halviyim | the Levites | H3881 → | 291 times |
| אֲשֶׁר֩ | ʾasher | whom | H834 → | 5497 times |
| פָּקַ֨ד | pakad | he enrolled | H6485 → | 303 times |
| מֹשֶׁ֧ה | mosheh | Moses | H4872 → | 765 times |
| וְׄאַׄהֲׄרֹ֛ׄןׄ | veaharon | and Aaron | H175 → | 347 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| פִּ֥י | pi | [the] mouth of | H6310 → | 498 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֑ם | lemishpechotam | to clans their | H4940 → | 303 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| זָכָר֙ | zakhar | male | H2145 → | 82 times |
| מִבֶּן־ | miben- | from a son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| חֹ֣דֶשׁ | chodesh | a month | H2320 → | 284 times |
| וָמַ֔עְלָה | vama'lah | and up -wards | H4605 → | 140 times |
| שְׁנַ֥יִם | shenayim | [were] two | H8147 → | 768 times |
| וְעֶשְׂרִ֖ים | veesrim | and twenty | H6242 → | 315 times |
| אָֽלֶף׃ ס | ʾalef | thousand | H505 → | 505 times |
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
פְּקוּדֵ֨י[those] enrolled of
pekudeiH6485 →303 times
הַלְוִיִּ֜םthe Levites
halviyimH3881 →291 times
אֲשֶׁר֩whom
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
פָּקַ֨דhe enrolled
pakadH6485 →303 times
מֹשֶׁ֧הMoses
moshehH4872 →765 times
וְׄאַׄהֲׄרֹ֛ׄןׄand Aaron
veaharonH175 →347 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
פִּ֥י[the] mouth of
piH6310 →498 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֑םto clans their
lemishpechotamH4940 →303 times
כָּל־every
kol-H3605 →5413 times
זָכָר֙male
zakharH2145 →82 times
מִבֶּן־from a son of
miben-H1121 →4930 times
חֹ֣דֶשׁa month
chodeshH2320 →284 times
וָמַ֔עְלָהand up -wards
vama'lahH4605 →140 times
שְׁנַ֥יִם[were] two
shenayimH8147 →768 times
וְעֶשְׂרִ֖יםand twenty
veesrimH6242 →315 times
אָֽלֶף׃ סthousand
ʾalefH505 →505 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
Matthew 7:14But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.
it leads to
- Luke 13:23–30
“Lord,” someone asked Him, “will only a few people be saved?” Jesus answered,
- Matthew 22:14
For many are called, but few are chosen.”
- Matthew 16:24–25
Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.
- Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of…
- Isaiah 35:8
And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it.
- Luke 13:23–30
Through
Numbers 26:62The registration of the Levites totaled 23,000, every male a month old or more; they were not numbered among the other Israelites, because no inheritance was given to them among the Israelites.
it leads to
- Numbers 35:2–8
“Command the Israelites to give, from the inheritance they will possess, cities for the Levites to live in and pasturelands around the cities.
- Deuteronomy 10:9
That is why Levi has no portion or inheritance among his brothers; the LORD is his inheritance, as the LORD your God promised him.
- Numbers 1:49
“Do not number the tribe of Levi in the census with the other Israelites.
- Numbers 35:2–8
Where this verse is studied
About Numbers
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.