Nombres 1

A census of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai

¹The LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month in the second year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt. He said, ²“Take a census of the whole congregation of the Israelites by clans and by ancestral families, listing the names of every male one by one. ³You and Aaron are to enroll them by their divisions, all the men in Israel twenty years old and up, everyone who can go out to war. ⁴One man from each tribe is to be with you, each of them the head of his ancestral family. ⁵These are the names of the men who are to assist you: from Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur, ⁶from Simeon, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai, ⁷from Judah, Nahshon son of Amminadab, ⁸from Issachar, Nethanel son of Zuar, ⁹from Zebulun, Eliab son of Helon, ¹⁰from the descendants of Joseph: from Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud, and from Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur, ¹¹from Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni, ¹²from Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai, ¹³from Asher, Pagiel son of Ochran, ¹⁴from Gad, Eliasaph son of Deuel,^{a 15}and from Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan.” ¹⁶These were the men chosen from the congregation, the leaders of their ancestral tribes. They were the heads of the clans of Israel. ¹⁷Moses and Aaron took these men who had been named, ¹⁸and they gathered the whole congregation on the first day of the second month. The people registered their descent by clans and ancestral families, and the names of those twenty years old and up were listed one by one, ¹⁹just as the LORD had commanded Moses. So Moses enrolled them in the wilderness of Sinai.

The count, tribe by tribe

²⁰The descendants of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, were listed by their family lines, by clans and ancestral families. Every male twenty years old and up who could go out to war was counted by name, one by one. ²¹The number enrolled from the tribe of Reuben was 46,500.^b

²²The descendants of Simeon were listed by their family lines, by clans and ancestral families. Every male twenty years old and up who could go out to war was enrolled by name, one by one. ²³The number enrolled from the tribe of Simeon was 59,300.

²⁴The descendants of Gad were listed by their family lines, by clans and ancestral families. Every man twenty years old and up who could go out to war was counted by name. ²⁵The number enrolled from the tribe of Gad was 45,650.

²⁶The descendants of Judah were listed by their family lines, by clans and ancestral families. Every man twenty years old and up who could go out to war was counted by name. ²⁷The number enrolled from the tribe of Judah was 74,600.

²⁸The descendants of Issachar were listed by their family lines, by clans and ancestral families. Every man twenty years old and up who could go out to war was counted by name. ²⁹The number enrolled from the tribe of Issachar was 54,400.

³⁰The descendants of Zebulun were listed by their family lines, by clans and ancestral families. Every man twenty years old and up who could go out to war was counted by name. ³¹The number enrolled from the tribe of Zebulun was 57,400.

³²From the descendants of Joseph: the descendants of Ephraim were listed by their family lines, by clans and ancestral families. Every man twenty years old and up who could go out to war was counted by name. ³³The number enrolled from the tribe of Ephraim was 40,500.

³⁴The descendants of Manasseh were listed by their family lines, by clans and ancestral families. Every man twenty years old and up who could go out to war was counted by name. ³⁵The number enrolled from the tribe of Manasseh was 32,200.

³⁶The descendants of Benjamin were listed by their family lines, by clans and ancestral families. Every man twenty years old and up who could go out to war was counted by name. ³⁷The number enrolled from the tribe of Benjamin was 35,400.

³⁸The descendants of Dan were listed by their family lines, by clans and ancestral families. Every man twenty years old and up who could go out to war was counted by name. ³⁹The number enrolled from the tribe of Dan was 62,700.

⁴⁰The descendants of Asher were listed by their family lines, by clans and ancestral families. Every man twenty years old and up who could go out to war was counted by name. ⁴¹The number enrolled from the tribe of Asher was 41,500.

⁴²The descendants of Naphtali were listed by their family lines, by clans and ancestral families. Every man twenty years old and up who could go out to war was counted by name. ⁴³The number enrolled from the tribe of Naphtali was 53,400.

The total of those enrolled

⁴⁴These are the men enrolled by Moses and Aaron and by the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each representing his ancestral family. ⁴⁵So all the Israelites twenty years old and up, everyone in Israel who could go out to war, were enrolled by their ancestral families. ⁴⁶The total number enrolled was 603,550. ⁴⁷But the Levites were not enrolled along with the others by their ancestral tribe.

The Levites are not counted

⁴⁸For the LORD had told Moses, ⁴⁹“The one tribe you are not to enroll is Levi. Do not include them in the census of the Israelites. ⁵⁰Instead, put the Levites in charge of the tabernacle of the testimony, all its furnishings and everything that belongs to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, look after it, and camp around the tabernacle. ⁵¹Whenever the tabernacle is to move on, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever it is to be pitched, the Levites are to set it up. Any outsider who comes near it is to be put to death. ⁵²The Israelites are to camp by their divisions, everyone in their own camp and under their own standard. ⁵³But the Levites are to camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that no wrath falls on the congregation of the Israelites. The Levites are to keep guard over the tabernacle of the testimony.” ⁵⁴The Israelites did everything the LORD had commanded Moses. That is exactly what they did.