Numbers 1:1-4:20

New American Standard Bible

The Census of Israel’s Warriors

1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on ^(A)the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, ² “^(B)Take a ^[a]census of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, every male, head by head ³ from ^(C)twenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall ^[b]count them by their armies. ⁴ With you, moreover, there shall be a man of each tribe, ^(D)each one head of his father’s household. ⁵ These then are the names of the men who shall stand with you: ^(E)of the tribe of Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur; ⁶ of the tribe of Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai; ⁷ of the tribe of Judah, ^(F)Nahshon the son of Amminadab; ⁸ of Issachar, Nethanel the son of Zuar; ⁹ of Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon; ¹⁰ of the sons of Joseph: of Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud; of Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur; ¹¹ of Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni; ¹² of Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai; ¹³ of Asher, Pagiel the son of Ochran; ¹⁴ of Gad, Eliasaph the son of ^(G)Deuel; ¹⁵ of Naphtali, Ahira the son of Enan. ¹⁶ These are the men who were ^(H)called from the congregation, the leaders of their fathers’ tribes; they were the ^(I)heads of ^[c]divisions of Israel.”

¹⁷ So Moses and Aaron took these men who had been designated by name, ¹⁸ and they assembled all the congregation on the ^(J)first day of the second month. Then they registered by ^(K)ancestry in their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, head by head, ¹⁹ just as ^(L)the Lord had commanded Moses. So he counted them in the wilderness of Sinai.

^20 (M)Now the sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ²¹ their numbered men of the tribe of Reuben were 46,500.

^22 (N)Of the sons of Simeon, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, their numbered men, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, ^(O)whoever was able to go to war, ²³ their numbered men of the tribe of Simeon were 59,300.

^24 (P)Of the sons of Gad, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ²⁵ their numbered men of the tribe of Gad were 45,650.

^26 (Q)Of the sons of Judah, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ²⁷ their numbered men of the tribe of Judah were 74,600.

^28 (R)Of the sons of Issachar, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ²⁹ their numbered men of the tribe of Issachar were 54,400.

^30 (S)Of the sons of Zebulun, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ³¹ their numbered men of the tribe of Zebulun were 57,400.

^32 (T)Of the sons of Joseph, namely, of the sons of Ephraim, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ³³ their numbered men of the tribe of Ephraim were 40,500.

^34 (U)Of the sons of Manasseh, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ³⁵ their numbered men of the tribe of Manasseh were 32,200.

^36 (V)Of the sons of Benjamin, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ³⁷ their numbered men of the tribe of Benjamin were 35,400.

^38 (W)Of the sons of Dan, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ³⁹ their numbered men of the tribe of Dan were 62,700.

^40 (X)Of the sons of Asher, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ⁴¹ their numbered men of the tribe of Asher were 41,500.

^42 (Y)Of the sons of Naphtali, their descendants by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war, ⁴³ their numbered men of the tribe of Naphtali were 53,400.

⁴⁴ These are the ones who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron counted, with the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each of whom was of his father’s household. ⁴⁵ So all the numbered men of the sons of Israel by their fathers’ households, from twenty years old and upward, whoever was able to go to war in Israel, ⁴⁶ all the numbered men were ^(Z)603,550.

Levites Exempted

^47 (AA)The Levites, however, were not counted among them by their fathers’ tribe. ⁴⁸ For the Lord had spoken to Moses, saying, ⁴⁹ “Only the tribe of Levi ^(AB)you shall not count, nor shall you take their ^[d]census among the sons of Israel. ⁵⁰ And you shall ^(AC)appoint the Levites over the ^[e]tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings and over everything that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall take care of it; they shall also camp around the ^[f]tabernacle. ^51 (AD)So when the tabernacle is to move on, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle encamps, the Levites shall set it up. But ^(AE)the ^[g]layman who comes near it shall be put to death. ^52 (AF)So the sons of Israel shall camp, each man by his own camp, and each man by his own ^[h]flag, according to their armies. ^53 (AG)But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there will be ^(AH)no divine wrath against the congregation of the sons of Israel. ^(AI)So the Levites shall be responsible for service to the tabernacle of the testimony.” ⁵⁴ And the sons of Israel did so; in accordance with all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so they did.

Arrangement of the Camps

2 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ² “^(AJ)The sons of Israel shall camp, each by his own ^[i]flag, with the banners of their fathers’ households; they shall camp around the tent of meeting ^[j]at a distance. ³ Now those who camp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be of the flag of the camp of Judah, by their armies; and the leader of the sons of Judah: ^(AK)Nahshon the son of Amminadab, ⁴ and his army, their ^[k]numbered men: 74,600. ⁵ Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar; and the leader of the sons of Issachar: ^(AL)Nethanel the son of Zuar, ⁶ and his army, their numbered men: 54,400. ⁷ Then follows the tribe of Zebulun; and the leader of the sons of Zebulun: ^(AM)Eliab the son of Helon, ⁸ and his army, his numbered men: 57,400. ⁹ The total of the numbered men of the camp of Judah: 186,400, by their armies. ^(AN)They shall set out first.

¹⁰ “On the south side shall be the flag of the camp of Reuben by their armies; and the leader of the sons of Reuben: ^(AO)Elizur the son of Shedeur, ¹¹ and his army, their numbered men: 46,500. ¹² And those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Simeon; and the leader of the sons of Simeon: ^(AP)Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, ¹³ and his army, their numbered men: 59,300. ¹⁴ Then follows the tribe of Gad; and the leader of the sons of Gad: ^(AQ)Eliasaph the son of ^[l]Deuel, ¹⁵ and his army, their numbered men: 45,650. ¹⁶ The total of the numbered men of the camp of Reuben: 151,450 by their armies. And ^(AR)they shall set out second.

¹⁷ “^(AS)Then the tent of meeting shall set out with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps; just as they camp, so they shall set out, every man in his place by their flags.

¹⁸ “On the west side shall be the flag of the camp of ^(AT)Ephraim by their armies; and the leader of the sons of Ephraim: ^(AU)Elishama the son of Ammihud, ¹⁹ and his army, their numbered men: 40,500. ²⁰ Next to him shall be the tribe of Manasseh; and the leader of the sons of Manasseh: ^(AV)Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, ²¹ and his army, their numbered men, 32,200. ²² Then follows the tribe of ^(AW)Benjamin; and the leader of the sons of Benjamin: ^(AX)Abidan the son of Gideoni, ²³ and his army, their numbered men, 35,400. ²⁴ The total of the numbered men of the camp of Ephraim: 108,100, by their armies. And ^(AY)they shall set out third.

²⁵ “On the north side shall be the flag of the camp of Dan by their armies; and the leader of the sons of Dan: ^(AZ)Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, ²⁶ and his army, their numbered men: 62,700. ²⁷ Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Asher; and the leader of the sons of Asher: ^(BA)Pagiel the son of Ochran, ²⁸ and his army, their numbered men: 41,500. ²⁹ Then follows the tribe of ^(BB)Naphtali; and the leader of the sons of Naphtali: ^(BC)Ahira the son of Enan, ³⁰ and his army, their numbered men: 53,400. ³¹ The total of the numbered men of the camp of Dan was 157,600. ^(BD)They shall set out last by their flags.”

³² These are the numbered men of the sons of Israel by their fathers’ households; the total of the numbered men of the camps by their armies, ^(BE)603,550. ^33 (BF)The Levites, however, were not counted among the sons of Israel, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³⁴ So the sons of Israel did all this; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so they camped by their flags, and so they set out, everyone by his family according to his father’s household.

Levite Priesthood Established

3 ^(BG)Now these are the records of the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. ^2 (BH)These then are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ³ These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the ^(BI)anointed priests, whom he ^[m]ordained to serve as priests. ^4 (BJ)But Nadab and Abihu died in the presence of the Lord when they offered ^[n]strange fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests ^[o]in the lifetime of their father Aaron.

⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶ “^(BK)Bring the tribe of Levi forward and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. ⁷ They shall perform the duties for ^[p]him and for the whole congregation in front of the tent of meeting, to do the ^(BL)service of the tabernacle. ⁸ They shall also take care of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the duties of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. ⁹ So you shall ^(BM)assign the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are exclusively assigned to him from the sons of Israel. ¹⁰ So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that ^(BN)they may ^[q]keep their priesthood, but ^(BO)the ^[r]layman who comes near shall be put to death.”

¹¹ Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹² “Now, behold, I ^(BP)have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every ^(BQ)firstborn, the firstborn of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine. ¹³ For ^(BR)all the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I fatally struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from the human firstborn to animals. They shall be Mine; I am the Lord.”

¹⁴ Then the Lord spoke to Moses ^(BS)in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, ¹⁵ “^[s](BT)Count the sons of Levi by their fathers’ households, by their families; every male from a month old and upward you shall count.” ¹⁶ So Moses counted them according to the ^[t]word of the Lord, just as he had been commanded. ^17 (BU)These, then, are the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹⁸ And these are the names of the ^(BV)sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei; ¹⁹ and the sons of Kohath by their families: Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel; ²⁰ and the sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their fathers’ households.

²¹ Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimeites; these were the families of the Gershonites. ²² Their numbered men, in the counting of every male from a month old and upward, their numbered men were 7,500. ²³ The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the ^[u]tabernacle westward, ²⁴ and the leader of the fathers’ households of the Gershonites: Eliasaph the son of Lael.

Duties of the Levites

²⁵ Now ^(BW)the duties of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting included the tabernacle and ^(BX)the tent, its covering, and ^(BY)the curtain for the entrance of the tent of meeting, ²⁶ and ^(BZ)the curtains of the courtyard, ^(CA)the curtain for the entrance of the courtyard which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its ropes, according to all the service ^[v]concerning them.

²⁷ Of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, the family of the Izharites, the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites; these were the families of the Kohathites. ²⁸ In the counting of every male from a month old and upward, there were 8,600, performing the duties of the sanctuary. ²⁹ The families of the sons of Kohath were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle, ³⁰ and the leader of the fathers’ households of the Kohathite families: ^[w]Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. ³¹ Now ^(CB)their duties included ^(CC)the ark, ^(CD)the table, ^(CE)the lampstand, ^(CF)the altars, the utensils of the sanctuary with which they minister, the ^[x]curtain, and all the service ^[y]concerning them; ³² and Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was the head of the leaders of Levi, and he had the supervision of those who performed the duties of the sanctuary.

³³ Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites; these were the families of Merari. ³⁴ Their numbered men in the counting of every male from a month old and upward: 6,200. ³⁵ And the leader of the fathers’ households of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They were to ^(CG)camp on the northward side of the tabernacle. ³⁶ Now the appointment of duties of the sons of Merari included the framework of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its bases, all its equipment, and all the service concerning them, ³⁷ and the pillars around the courtyard with their bases, their pegs, and their ropes.

³⁸ Now those who were to ^(CH)camp in front of the tabernacle eastward, in front of the tent of meeting toward the sunrise, were Moses and Aaron and his sons, performing the duties of the sanctuary for the obligation of the sons of Israel; but ^(CI)the ^[z]layman coming near was to be put to death. ³⁹ All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron counted at the ^[aa]command of the Lord by their families, every male from a month old and upward, were ^(CJ)twenty-two thousand.

Firstborn Redeemed

⁴⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, “^(CK)Count every firstborn male of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and ^[ab]make a list of their names. ⁴¹ And you ^(CL)shall take the Levites for Me—I am the Lord—instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites in place of all the firstborn among the cattle of the sons of Israel.” ⁴² So Moses counted all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, just as the Lord had commanded him; ⁴³ and all the firstborn males, by the number of names from a month old and upward for their numbered men, were ^(CM)22,273.

⁴⁴ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵ “^(CN)Take the Levites in place of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites in place of their cattle. And the Levites shall be Mine; I am the Lord. ^46 (CO)And as ^[ac]a redemption price for the 273 of the firstborn of the sons of Israel who are in excess of the number of the Levites, ⁴⁷ you shall take ^(CP)five shekels apiece, per head; you shall take them in ^(CQ)terms of the shekel of the sanctuary (^(CR)the shekel is twenty ^[ad]gerahs), ⁴⁸ and you shall give the money, the redemption price of those who are in excess among them, to Aaron and to his sons.” ⁴⁹ So Moses took the redemption money from those who were in excess of the number of those redeemed by the Levites; ⁵⁰ from the firstborn of the sons of Israel he took the money in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, 1,365. ⁵¹ Then Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and to his sons, at the ^[ae]command of the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Duties of the Kohathites

4 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ² “Take a ^[af]census of the ^[ag]descendants of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ households, ³ from ^(CS)thirty years old and upward, even to fifty years old, everyone who can enter the service of ministry to do work in the tent of meeting. ⁴ This is the work of the ^[ah]descendants of Kohath in the tent of meeting, concerning the most holy things.

⁵ “When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down ^(CT)the veil of the curtain, and cover the ^(CU)ark of the testimony with it; ⁶ and they shall place a ^(CV)covering of ^[ai]fine leather on it, and spread over it a cloth of pure ^[aj]violet, and insert its carrying poles. ⁷ Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall also spread a cloth of violet and put on it the dishes, the pans, the sacrificial bowls, and the jugs for the drink offering; and ^(CW)the continual bread shall be on it. ⁸ And they shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet material, and cover the same with a covering of fine leather, and they shall insert its carrying poles. ⁹ Then they shall take a violet cloth and cover the ^(CX)lampstand for the light, ^(CY)along with its lamps, its tongs, its trays, and all its oil containers, by which they attend to it; ¹⁰ and they shall put it and all its utensils in a covering of fine leather, and put it on the carrying ^[ak]bars. ¹¹ Over the golden altar they shall spread a violet cloth, and cover it with a covering of fine leather, and they shall insert its carrying poles; ¹² and they shall take all the utensils of service, with which they serve in the sanctuary, and put them in a violet cloth and cover them with a covering of fine leather, and put them on the carrying ^[al]bars. ¹³ Then they shall clean away the ^[am]ashes from the ^(CZ)altar, and spread a purple cloth over it. ¹⁴ They shall also put on it all its utensils by which they serve in connection with it: the firepans, the forks, shovels, and the basins, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread a cover of fine leather over it and insert its carrying poles. ¹⁵ When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is to set out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them by the poles, so that they will not touch the holy objects ^(DA)and die. These are the ^[an]things in the tent of meeting that the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶ “Now the responsibility of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is ^(DB)the oil for the light, the ^(DC)fragrant incense, ^(DD)the continual grain offering, and ^(DE)the anointing oil—the responsibility of all the ^[ao]tabernacle and everything that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings.”

¹⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ¹⁸ “Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be eliminated from among the Levites. ¹⁹ Rather, do this for them so that they will live and ^(DF)not die when they approach the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each of them to his work and to his load; ²⁰ but ^(DG)they shall not come in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.”