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26
The people were counted again
1 After the plague ended, Yahweh said to Eleazar and Moses/me, 2 “Count all the people of Israel again. Write down the names of all the men who are at least 20 years old who are able to fight in battles, along with their family names.” 3 So while the Israelis were on the plains where the Moab people-group lived, Eleazar and Moses/I told this to the Israeli leaders: 4 “Write down the names of all the Israeli men who are at least 20 years old, as Yahweh has commanded us.”
So they did that, and this is a record of all the descendants of Jacob who came out of Egypt who were still alive.
5-7 They counted 43,730 men from the tribe of Reuben, Jacob’s oldest son. They were in clans descended from Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 8 Pallu’s son was Eliab 9 and his grandsons were Nemuel, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram were the leaders who joined with Korah to conspire against Aaron and Moses/me and rebelled against Yahweh.
10 But the earth opened up and swallowed them and Korah. Yahweh also sent a fire that burned up 250 men who supported those three men. That was a warning to all the Israeli people that they should respect and obey the leaders whom Yahweh had appointed. 11 But the descendants of Korah did not die on that day.
12-14 The Israeli leaders counted 22,200 men from the tribe of Simeon. They were in clans descended from Nemuel, Jamin, Jakin, Zerah, and Shaul.
15-18 They counted 40,500 men from the tribe of Gad. They were in clans descended from Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ozni, Eri, Arod, and Areli.
19-22 They counted 76,500 men from the tribe of Judah. They were in clans descended from Shelah, Perez, Zerah, Hezron, and Hamul. Judah’s other two sons, Er and Onan, died in Canaan without having had any children.
23-25 They counted 64,300 men from the tribe of Issachar. They were in clans descended from Tola, Puvah, Jashub, and Shimron.
26-27 They counted 60,500 men from the tribe of Zebulun. They were in clans descended from Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.
28-34 They counted 52,700 men from the tribe of Manasseh, who was one of the sons of Joseph. They were in clans descended from Machir, from his son Gilead, and from his six grandsons—Jezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Shemida, and Hepher. Hepher’s son Zelophehad did not have any sons, but he had five daughters—Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
35-37 They counted 32,500 men from the tribe of Ephraim, who was Joseph’s other son. They were in clans descended from Shuthelah, Becher, Tahan, and Shuthelah’s son Eran.
38-41 They counted 45,600 men from the tribe of Benjamin. They were in clans descended from Bela, Ashbel, Ahiram, Shephupham, and Hupham, and from Bela’s two sons—Ard and Naaman.
42-43 They counted 64,400 men from the tribe of Dan. They were in one clan descended from Shuham.
44-47 They counted 53,400 men from the tribe of Asher. They were in clans descended from Imnah, Ishvi, and Beriah, and from Beriah’s two sons—Heber and Malkiel. Asher also had a daughter named Serah.
48-50 They counted 45,400 men from the tribe of Naphtali. They were in clans descended from Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.
51 The total of the Israeli men whom the leaders counted was 601,730.
52 Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, 53 “Divide Canaan land among the tribes. Distribute the land according the number of people in each tribe that are on your lists. 54-56 Decide by ◄casting lots/throwing stones which are marked► to determine which group will get which area, but give the largest areas to the groups with the most people.”
57 The leaders also counted the male descendants of Levi. They were in clans descended from Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 58 These also included people from the clans of Libni, Hebron, Mahli, Mushi, and Korah. All of them were descendants of Levi. Kohath was the ancestor of Amram, 59 whose wife was Jochebed. She also was a descendant of Levi, but she was born in Egypt. She and Amram had two sons, Aaron and Moses/me, and their/our older sister Miriam. 60 Aaron’s sons were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 61 But Nadab and Abihu died when they burned incense for a sacrifice to Yahweh in a way that disobeyed what Yahweh had commanded.
62 The leaders counted 23,000 men from the descendants of Levi who were at least one month old. But these men were not counted when the rest of the Israeli people were counted, because they were not given any land.
63 Those were the men whom Eleazar and Moses/I said should be counted. They counted the Israeli people on the plains where the Moab people-group lived, on the east side of the Jordan River, across from Jericho city. 64 None of the men whom they counted were on the lists that were made by Aaron and Moses/me when the Israelis were in the Sinai Desert, 65 because Yahweh had said about them, “They will all die in this desert,” and that is what happened. The only ones who were still alive were Jephunneh’s son Caleb and Nun’s son Joshua.

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© 2008-2017 Ellis W. Deibler, Jr.