Numbers 26

Living Bible

26 After the plague had ended, Jehovah said to Moses and to Eleazar (son of Aaron the priest), ²“Take a census of all the men of Israel who are twenty years old or older, to find out how many of each tribe and clan are able to go to war.”

^3-4So Moses and Eleazar issued census instructions to the leaders of Israel. (The entire nation was camped in the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, opposite Jericho.) Here are the results of the census:

^5-11The tribe of Reuben: 43,730.

(Reuben was Israel’s oldest son.) In this tribe were the following clans, named after Reuben’s sons:

The Hanochites, named after their ancestor Hanoch.

The Palluites, named after their ancestor Pallu. (In the subclan of Eliab—who was one of the sons of Pallu—were the families of Nemuel, Abiram, and Dathan. This Dathan and Abiram were the two leaders who conspired with Korah against Moses and Aaron, and in fact challenged the very authority of God! But the earth opened and swallowed them; and 250 men were destroyed by fire from the Lord that day, as a warning to the entire nation.)

The Hezronites, named after their ancestor Hezron.

The Carmites, named after their ancestor Carmi.

^12-14The tribe of Simeon: 22,200.

In this tribe were the following clans, founded by Simeon’s sons:

The Nemuelites, named after their ancestor Nemuel.

The Jaminites, named after their ancestor Jamin.

The Jachinites, named after their ancestor Jachin.

The Zerahites, named after their ancestor Zerah.

The Shaulites, named after their ancestor Shaul.

^15-18The tribe of Gad: 40,500.

In this tribe were the following clans founded by the sons of Gad:

The Zephonites, named after their ancestor Zephon.

The Haggites, named after their ancestor Haggi.

The Shunites, named after their ancestor Shuni.

The Oznites, named after their ancestor Ozni.

The Erites, named after their ancestor Eri.

The Arodites, named after their ancestor Arod.

The Arelites, named after their ancestor Areli.

^19-22The tribe of Judah: 76,500.

In this tribe were the following clans named after the sons of Judah—but not including Er and Onan who died in the land of Canaan:

The Shelanites, named after their ancestor Shelah.

The Perezites, named after their ancestor Perez.

The Zerahites, named after their ancestor Zerah.

This census also included the subclans of Perez:

The Hezronites, named after their ancestor Hezron.

The Hamulites, named after their ancestor Hamul.

^23-25The tribe of Issachar: 64,300.

In this tribe were the following clans named after the sons of Issachar:

The Tolaites, named after their ancestor Tola.

The Punites, named after their ancestor Puvah.

The Jashubites, named after their ancestor Jashub.

The Shimronites, named after their ancestor Shimron.

^26-27The tribe of Zebulun: 60,500.

In this tribe were the following clans named after the sons of Zebulun:

The Seredites, named after their ancestor Sered.

The Elonites, named after their ancestor Elon.

The Jahleelites, named after their ancestor Jahleel.

^28-37The tribe of Joseph: 32,500 in the half-tribe of Ephraim; and 52,700 in the half-tribe of Manasseh.

In the half-tribe of Manasseh was the clan of Machirites, named after their ancestor Machir.

The subclan of the Machirites was the Gileadites, named after their ancestor Gilead.

The tribes of the Gileadites:

The Jezerites, named after their ancestor Jezer.

The Helekites, named after their ancestor Helek.

The Asrielites, named after their ancestor Asriel.

The Shechemites, named after their ancestor Shechem.

The Shemidaites, named after their ancestor Shemida.

The Hepherites, named after their ancestor Hepher. (Hepher’s son, Zelophehad, had no sons. Here are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, Tirzah.)

The 32,500 registered in the half-tribe of Ephraim included the following clans, named after the sons of Ephraim:

The Shuthelahites, named after their ancestor Shuthelah. (A subclan of the Shuthelahites was the Eranites, named after their ancestor Eran, a son of Shuthelah.)

The Becherites, named after their ancestor Becher.

The Tahanites, named after their ancestor Tahan.

^38-41The tribe of Benjamin: 45,600.

In this tribe were the following clans named after the sons of Benjamin:

The Belaites, named after their ancestor Bela.

Subclans named after sons of Bela were:

The Ardites, named after their ancestor Ard.

The Naamites, named after their ancestor Naaman.

The Ashbelites, named after their ancestor Ashbel.

The Ahiramites, named after their ancestor Ahiram.

The Shuphamites, named after their ancestor Shephupham.

The Huphamites, named after their ancestor Hupham.

^42-43The tribe of Dan: 64,400.

In this tribe was the clan of the Shuhamites, named after Shuham, the son of Dan.

^44-47The tribe of Asher: 53,400.

In this tribe were the following clans named after the sons of Asher:

The Imnites, named after their ancestor Imnah.

The Ishvites, named after their ancestor Ishvi.

The Beriites, named after their ancestor Beriah.

Subclans named after the sons of Beriah were:

The Heberites, named after their ancestor Heber.

The Malchielites, named after their ancestor Malchiel.

Asher also had a daughter named Serah.

^48-50The tribe of Naphtali: 45,400.

In this tribe were the following clans, named after the sons of Naphtali:

The Jahzeelites, named after their ancestor Jahzeel.

The Gunites, named after their ancestor Guni.

The Jezerites, named after their ancestor Jezer.

The Shillemites, named after their ancestor Shillem.

⁵¹So the total number of the men of draft age throughout Israel was 601,730.

^52-53Then the Lord told Moses to divide the land among the tribes in proportion to their population, as indicated by the census— ⁵⁴the larger tribes to be given more land, the smaller tribes less land.

^55-56“Let the representatives of the larger tribes have a lottery, drawing for the larger sections,” the Lord instructed, “and let the smaller tribes draw for the smaller sections.”

⁵⁷These are the clans of the Levites numbered in the census:

The Gershonites, named after their ancestor Gershon.

The Kohathites, named after their ancestor Kohath.

The Merarites, named after their ancestor Merari.

^58-59These are the families of the tribe of Levi: the Libnites, the Hebronites, the Mahlites, the Mushites, the Korahites.

While Levi was in Egypt, a daughter, Jochebed, was born to him and she became the wife of Amram, son of Kohath. They were the parents of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. ⁶⁰To Aaron were born Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ⁶¹But Nadab and Abihu died when they offered unauthorized incense before the Lord.

⁶²The total number of Levites in the census was 23,000, counting all the males a month old and upward. But the Levites were not included in the total census figure of the people of Israel, for the Levites were given no land when it was divided among the tribes.

⁶³So these are the census figures as prepared by Moses and Eleazar the priest, in the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho. ^64-65Not one person in this entire census had been counted in the previous census^[a] taken in the wilderness of Sinai! For all who had been counted then had died, as the Lord had decreed when he said of them, “They shall die in the wilderness.” The only exceptions were Caleb (son of Jephunneh) and Joshua (son of Nun).

Footnotes

Numbers 26:64 Not one person . . . had been counted in the previous census. Forty years earlier, at the time of the first census, they had been under twenty years of age, and so were not counted. All who at that time were older than twenty years of age were now dead.