Numbers 26

Counting a new generation

God orders a new census

1 After the plague, the LORD told Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, 2 Count all the Israelite adults ages 20 and older. List them by their families—tribes and extended family clans in each tribe. Count everyone able to fight in a war. 3 The Israelites were camped on the east side of the Jordan River, across from Jericho, in the Moab plains. There, Moses and Eleazar the priest told the people, 4 “Take a census of the adults ages 20 and older, exactly as the LORD told Moses to do it.”
These are the men who came from Egypt:

Reuben’s tribe

5  These are the men from the tribe of Reuben, oldest son of Israel.[1]
Hanoch families, named after their ancestor.
Pallu families, named after Pallu.
6  Hezron families, named after Hezron.
Carmi families, named after Carmi.
7  Families in Reuben’s tribe had 43,730 men.

Sidebar about Pallu family revolt

8 Pallu’s son was Eliab.
9 Eliab’s sons were Nemuel, Dathan, and Abriam. Dathan and Abriam were the infamous leaders who conspired with Korah in a revolt against Moses and Aaron, and against the LORD. 10 But the ground opened and swallowed them, along with Korah. Fire killed 250 others in the revolt. This was a warning to all Israelites. 11 Korah’s sons were spared.

Simeon’s tribe

12  These are the men from Simeon’s tribe.
Nemuel’s families, named after Nemuel.
Jamin families, named after Jamin.
Jachin families, named after Jachin.
13  Zerah families, named after Zerah.
Saul families, named after Saul.
14  Families in Simeon’s tribe had 22,200 men.

Gad’s tribe

15  These are the men from Gad’s tribe.
Zephon families, named after Zephon.
Haggi families, named after Haggi,
Shuni families, named after Shuni.
16  Ozni families, named after Ozni.
Eri families, named after Eri.
17  Arod family, named after Arod.
Areli family, named after Areli. 18  Families in Gad’s tribe had 40,500 men.

Judah’s tribe

19  Judah’s sons were Er and Onan, but both died in Canaan.
20  These are the men from Judah’s tribe.
Shelah families, named after Shelah.
Perez families, named after Perez.
Zerah families, named after Zerah.
21  Hezron families, named after Hezron, a son of Perez.
Hamul families, named after Hamul, a son of Perez.
22  Families in Judah’s tribe had 76,500 men.

Issachar’s tribe

23  These are the men from Issachar’s tribe.
Tola families, named after Tola.
Puvah families, named after Puvah
24  Jashub families, named after Jashub.
Shimron families, named after Shimron.
25  Families in Issachar’s tribe had 64,300 men.

Zebulun’s tribe

26  These are the men from Zebulun’s tribe.
Sered families, named after Sered.
Elon families, named after Elon.
Jahleel families, named after Jaheel.
27  Families in Zebulun’s tribe had 60,500 men.
28  Joseph’s sons were Manasseh and Ephraim. Each son had a tribe.

Manasseh’s tribe

29  These are the men from Manasseh’s tribe.
Machir families, named after Machir, who was Gilead’s father.
30  Gilead families, named after Gilead, father of Iezer and Helek.
Iezer families, named after Iezer.
Helek families, named after Helek.
31  Asriel families, named after Asriel
Shechem families, named after Shechem.
32  Shemida families, named after Shemida.
Hepher families, named after Hepher.
33  Zelophehad was Hepher’s son. He had no sons, only daughters. Their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
34  Families in Manasseh’s tribe had 52,700 men.

Ephraim tribe

35  These are the men from Ephraim’s tribe.
Shuthelah families, named after Shuthelah.
Becher families, named after Becher.
Tahan families, named after Tahan.
36  Eran families, named after Eran, son of Shuthelah.
37  Families in Ephraim’s tribe had 32,500 men.

Benjamin’s tribe

38  These are the men from Benjamin’s tribe.
Bela families, named after Bela.
Ashbel families, named after Ashbel.
Ahiram families, named after Ahiram.
39  Shephupham families, named after Shephupham.
Hupham families, named after Hupham.
40  Bela’s sons were Ard and Naaman.
Ard families, named after Ard.
Naaman families, named after Naaman.
41  Families in Benjamin’s tribe had 45,600 men.

Dan’s tribe

42 These are the men from Dan’s tribe.
Shuham families, named after Shuham.
43 Shuman families in Dan’s tribe had 64,400 men.

Asher Tribe

44  These are the men from Asher’s tribe.
Imnah families, named after Imnah.
Ishvi families, named after Ishvi.
Beriah families, named after Beriah.
45  These families came from the Beriah families:
Heber families, named after Heber.
Malkiel families, named after Malkiel.
46  Asher’s daughter was Serah.
47  Families in Asher’s tribe had 53,400 men.

Naphtali’s tribe

48  These are the men from Naphtali’s tribe.
Jahzeel families, named after Jahzeel.
Guni families, named after Guni.
49  Jezer families, named after Jezer.
Shillem families, named after Shillem.
50  Families in Naphtali’s tribe had 45,400 men.
51  Total Israelite men registered for war: 601,730.

Divvy up the land

52 The LORD told Moses, 53 Divide the land among the tribes. Give the bigger tribes extra land for their people. 54 Tribes with a lot of people get a lot of land. Tribes with fewer people get less land. The amount of land depends on the number of people in the tribe. 55 Assign the location of the land by random. Have the tribes throw dice[2] for it. They should throw in the birth order of their tribal ancestors. 56 The land should be assigned by throwing dice, for larger tribes as well as the smaller ones.

Levi’s tribe

57  These are the men from Levi’s tribe.
Gershon families, named after Gershon.
Kohath families, named after Kohath.
Merari families, named after Merari.

58  These are Levi’s families:
Libnites, Hebronites, Mahlites, and Korahites. Kohath was the father of Amram.
59  Amram married Jochebed. She was Levi’s daughter, born in Egypt. She gave birth to Amram, Aaron, Moses, and their sister Miriam.
60  Aaron’s sons were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
61  Nadab and Abihu died when they brought an unacceptable incense offering to the LORD.[3]

62  The Levite family had 23,000 males ages one month and older. They weren’t counted with the others because they would not get any tribal territory.[4] 65  That’s because the LORD had said, “As surely as I’m alive today you’re going to die in the badlands.”[5] Not one man survived except Caleb,[6] son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun.

Notes

Intro Notes for Numbers

126:5

Israel was the name God gave Jacob when Jacob returned home to what is now Israel and Palestinian territory (Genesis 32:28).