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The First Census of Israel

(Numbers 26:1–4)

¹On the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the Wilderness of Sinai. He said:

²“Take a census of the whole congregation of Israel by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one.

³You and Aaron are to number those who are twenty years of age or older by their divisions—everyone who can serve in Israel’s army. ⁴And one man from each tribe, the head of each family, must be there with you.

The Leaders of the Tribes

⁵These are the names of the men who are to assist you:

From the tribe of 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 sons 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 Ocran;

¹⁴from Gad, Eliasaph son of Deuel;

¹⁵and from Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan.”

¹⁶These men were appointed from the congregation; they were the leaders of the tribes of their fathers, the heads of the clans of Israel.

The Number of Every Tribe

¹⁷So Moses and Aaron took these men who had been designated by name, ¹⁸and on the first day of the second month they assembled the whole congregation and recorded their ancestry by clans and families, counting one by one the names of those twenty years of age or older, ¹⁹just as the LORD had commanded Moses. So Moses numbered them in the Wilderness of Sinai:

²⁰From the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, according to the records of their clans and families, counting one by one the names of every male twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, ²¹those registered to the tribe of Reuben numbered 46,500.

²²From the sons of Simeon, according to the records of their clans and families, counting one by one the names of every male twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, ²³those registered to the tribe of Simeon numbered 59,300.

²⁴From the sons of Gad, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, ²⁵those registered to the tribe of Gad numbered 45,650.

²⁶From the sons of Judah, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, ²⁷those registered to the tribe of Judah numbered 74,600.

²⁸From the sons of Issachar, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, ²⁹those registered to the tribe of Issachar numbered 54,400.

³⁰From the sons of Zebulun, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, ³¹those registered to the tribe of Zebulun numbered 57,400.

³²From the sons of Joseph:

From the sons of Ephraim, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, ³³those registered to the tribe of Ephraim numbered 40,500.

³⁴And from the sons of Manasseh, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, ³⁵those registered to the tribe of Manasseh numbered 32,200.

³⁶From the sons of Benjamin, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, ³⁷those registered to the tribe of Benjamin numbered 35,400.

³⁸From the sons of Dan, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, ³⁹those registered to the tribe of Dan numbered 62,700.

⁴⁰From the sons of Asher, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, ⁴¹those registered to the tribe of Asher numbered 41,500.

⁴²From the sons of Naphtali, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army, ⁴³those registered to the tribe of Naphtali numbered 53,400.

⁴⁴These were the men numbered by Moses and Aaron, with the assistance of the twelve leaders of Israel, each one representing his family. ⁴⁵So all the Israelites twenty years of age or older who could serve in Israel’s army were counted according to their families. ⁴⁶And all those counted totaled 603,550.

The Exemption of the Levites

⁴⁷The Levites, however, were not numbered along with them by the tribe of their fathers. ⁴⁸For the LORD had said to Moses: ⁴⁹“Do not number the tribe of Levi in the census with the other Israelites.

⁵⁰Instead, you are to appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the Testimony, all its furnishings, and everything in it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its articles, care for it, and camp around it.

⁵¹Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever it is to be pitched, the Levites are to set it up. Any outsider who goes near it must be put to death.

⁵²The Israelites are to camp by their divisions, each man in his own camp and under his own standard. ⁵³But the Levites are to camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony and watch over it, so that no wrath will fall on the congregation of Israel. So the Levites are responsible for the tabernacle of the Testimony.”

⁵⁴Thus the Israelites did everything just as the LORD had commanded Moses.