Numbers · 54 verses

Numbers 1

Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

The chapter

What happens here

Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

The census begins with every man named one by one, but ends with a grand total: 603,550. The roll call has somehow become arithmetic, with twelve tribal heads named and the army counted in heaps.

Names summoned, numbers returnedvv. 1–19

In the Wilderness of Sinai, the LORD tells Moses to count Israel by clans and families, every man of twenty and over who can serve in the army. Aaron is to stand with him, along with one family head from each tribe. The twelve assistants are named—Elizur, Shelumiel, Nahshon, Nethanel, Eliab, Elishama, Gamaliel, Abidan, Ahiezer, and their fellow leaders Pagiel, Eliasaph, and Ahira—and they are called leaders of their tribes and heads of Israel’s clans. The people are then assembled, ancestry is recorded, and the counting begins, one name at a time, though the chapter soon prefers totals to names.

The Levites are counted outvv. 20–54

The figures arrive tribe by tribe, from Reuben’s 46,500 to Judah’s 74,600, until the eligible men of Israel total 603,550. Then the chapter performs its neatest twist: the census of the whole congregation has not included Levi. The Levites receive another business altogether. They are to carry, dismantle, pitch, and guard the tabernacle of the Testimony, camping round it so that no outsider comes near—and the penalty for doing so is remarkably short. Israel camps by divisions, while the Levites keep watch over the holy furniture, and the chapter ends with everyone doing exactly as commanded.

The text

Read it

Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

Num 1:1On 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:
Num 1:2“Take a census of the whole congregation of Israel by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one.
Num 1:3You 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.
Num 1:4And one man from each tribe, the head of each family, must be there with you.
Num 1:5These are the names of the men who are to assist you: From the tribe of Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur;
Num 1:6from Simeon, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai;
Num 1:7from Judah, Nahshon son of Amminadab;
Num 1:8from Issachar, Nethanel son of Zuar;
Num 1:9from Zebulun, Eliab son of Helon;
Num 1:10from the sons of Joseph: from Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud, and from Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur;
Num 1:11from Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni;
Num 1:12from Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai;
Num 1:13from Asher, Pagiel son of Ocran;
Num 1:14from Gad, Eliasaph son of Deuel;
Num 1:15and from Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan.”
Num 1:16These men were appointed from the congregation; they were the leaders of the tribes of their fathers, the heads of the clans of Israel.
Num 1:17So Moses and Aaron took these men who had been designated by name,
Num 1:18and 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,
Num 1:19just as the LORD had commanded Moses. So Moses numbered them in the Wilderness of Sinai:
Num 1:20From 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,
Num 1:21those registered to the tribe of Reuben numbered 46,500.
Num 1:22From 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,
Num 1:23those registered to the tribe of Simeon numbered 59,300.
Num 1:24From 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,
Num 1:25those registered to the tribe of Gad numbered 45,650.
Num 1:26From 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,
Num 1:27those registered to the tribe of Judah numbered 74,600.
Num 1:28From 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,
Num 1:29those registered to the tribe of Issachar numbered 54,400.
Num 1:30From 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,
Num 1:31those registered to the tribe of Zebulun numbered 57,400.
Num 1:32From 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,
Num 1:33those registered to the tribe of Ephraim numbered 40,500.
Num 1:34And 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,
Num 1:35those registered to the tribe of Manasseh numbered 32,200.
Num 1:36From 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,
Num 1:37those registered to the tribe of Benjamin numbered 35,400.
Num 1:38From 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,
Num 1:39those registered to the tribe of Dan numbered 62,700.
Num 1:40From 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,
Num 1:41those registered to the tribe of Asher numbered 41,500.
Num 1:42From 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,
Num 1:43those registered to the tribe of Naphtali numbered 53,400.
Num 1:44These were the men numbered by Moses and Aaron, with the assistance of the twelve leaders of Israel, each one representing his family.
Num 1:45So all the Israelites twenty years of age or older who could serve in Israel’s army were counted according to their families.
Num 1:46And all those counted totaled 603,550.
Num 1:47The Levites, however, were not numbered along with them by the tribe of their fathers.
Num 1:48For the LORD had said to Moses:
Num 1:49“Do not number the tribe of Levi in the census with the other Israelites.
Num 1:50Instead, 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.
Num 1:51Whenever 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.
Num 1:52The Israelites are to camp by their divisions, each man in his own camp and under his own standard.
Num 1:53But 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.”
Num 1:54Thus the Israelites did everything just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

01 — Also here

Who else the chapter reaches

Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

02 — Read alongside

Where this is echoed

Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 317 passages were voted onto 52 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

18 Ezra 2:59The following came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, but they could not prove that their families were descended from Israel:
50 Exodus 38:21This is the inventory for the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony, as recorded at Moses’ command by the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
46 Exodus 12:37The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth with about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children.
2 Exodus 30:12“When you take a census of the Israelites to number them, each man must pay the LORD a ransom for his life when he is counted. Then no plague will come upon them when they are numbered.
2 Exodus 38:26a beka per person, that is, half a shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, from everyone twenty years of age or older who had crossed over to be numbered, a total of 603,550 men.
3 Exodus 30:14Everyone twenty years of age or older who crosses over must give this offering to the LORD.
16 Numbers 7:2And the leaders of Israel, the heads of their families, presented an offering. These men were the tribal leaders who had supervised the registration.
16 Exodus 18:25So Moses chose capable men from all Israel and made them heads over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
16 Exodus 18:21Furthermore, select capable men from among the people—God-fearing, trustworthy men who are averse to dishonest gain. Appoint them over the people as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
18 Nehemiah 7:61The following came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer, but they could not prove that their families were descended from Israel:
18 Hebrews 7:3Without father or mother or genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God, he remains a priest for all time.
46 Numbers 26:51These men of Israel numbered 601,730 in all.
47 Numbers 2:33But the Levites were not counted among the other Israelites, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
51 Numbers 3:38Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons were to camp to the east of the tabernacle, toward the sunrise, before the Tent of Meeting. They were to perform the duties of the sanctuary as a service on behalf of the Israelites; but any outsider who approached the sanctuary was to be put to death.
52 Numbers 2:2“The Israelites are to camp around the Tent of Meeting at a distance from it, each man under his standard, with the banners of his family.
53 Numbers 16:46Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.”

Onward

Keep reading

Next chapterNumbers 234 verses.Named hereLeviEverything the graph connects to this name.BookNumbersAll 36 chapters.Every bookThe Bible66 books, 1,189 chapters.