Numbers 1

1Yahweh 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 they had come out of the land of Egypt:

2“Take a census of the whole congregation of the Israelites by their clans and their ancestral houses, listing the names of every male one by one.

3You and Aaron are to register by their divisions everyone in Israel twenty years old and upward who is able to go to war.

4A man from each tribe is to be with you, each one the head of his ancestral house.

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 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;

15from Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan.”

16These were the men called from the congregation, the leaders of their ancestral tribes; they were the heads of the thousands of Israel.

17Moses 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. The people registered their descent by their clans and ancestral houses, listing the names of those twenty years old and upward one by one,

19as Yahweh had commanded Moses. So he registered them in the wilderness of Sinai.

20From the descendants of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, according to their family records by clans and ancestral houses, listing the names one by one, every male twenty years old and upward who was able to go to war,

21those registered from the tribe of Reuben numbered 46,500.

22From the descendants of Simeon, according to their family records by clans and ancestral houses, those registered, listing the names one by one, every male twenty years old and upward who was able to go to war,

23those registered from the tribe of Simeon numbered 59,300.

24From the descendants of Gad, according to their family records by clans and ancestral houses, listing the names of those twenty years old and upward who were able to go to war,

25those registered from the tribe of Gad numbered 45,650.

26From the descendants of Judah, according to their family records by clans and ancestral houses, listing the names of those twenty years old and upward who were able to go to war,

27those registered from the tribe of Judah numbered 74,600.

28From the descendants of Issachar, according to their family records by clans and ancestral houses, listing the names of those twenty years old and upward who were able to go to war,

29those registered from the tribe of Issachar numbered 54,400.

30From the descendants of Zebulun, according to their family records by clans and ancestral houses, listing the names of those twenty years old and upward who were able to go to war,

31those registered from the tribe of Zebulun numbered 57,400.

32From the descendants of Joseph: from the descendants of Ephraim, according to their family records by clans and ancestral houses, listing the names of those twenty years old and upward who were able to go to war,

33those registered from the tribe of Ephraim numbered 40,500.

34From the descendants of Manasseh, according to their family records by clans and ancestral houses, listing the names of those twenty years old and upward who were able to go to war,

35those registered from the tribe of Manasseh numbered 32,200.

36From the descendants of Benjamin, according to their family records by clans and ancestral houses, listing the names of those twenty years old and upward who were able to go to war,

37those registered from the tribe of Benjamin numbered 35,400.

38From the descendants of Dan, according to their family records by clans and ancestral houses, listing the names of those twenty years old and upward who were able to go to war,

39those registered from the tribe of Dan numbered 62,700.

40From the descendants of Asher, according to their family records by clans and ancestral houses, listing the names of those twenty years old and upward who were able to go to war,

41those registered from the tribe of Asher numbered 41,500.

42From the descendants of Naphtali, according to their family records by clans and ancestral houses, listing the names of those twenty years old and upward who were able to go to war,

43those registered from the tribe of Naphtali numbered 53,400.

44These were the ones registered, whom Moses and Aaron registered with the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each one representing his ancestral house.

45All the Israelites registered by their ancestral houses, twenty years old and upward, everyone in Israel able to go to war—

46all those registered numbered 603,550.

47But the Levites were not registered among them by their ancestral tribe.

48Yahweh said to Moses,

49“But you are not to register the tribe of Levi or include them in the census among the Israelites.

50Instead, appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, over all its furnishings, and over everything that belongs to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, they are to take care of it, and they are to camp around the tabernacle.

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

52The Israelites are to camp by their divisions, each man in his own camp and each man by his own banner.

53But the Levites are to camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that no wrath will fall on the congregation of the Israelites. The Levites are to keep guard over the tabernacle of the testimony.”

54The Israelites did this; they did everything just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.