from twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go out to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall count them by their divisions.
Parallel translations
- KJV From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies.
- BSB You 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.
- NKJV from twenty years old and above—all who are able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their armies.
- NASB from twenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall count them by their armies.
- NLT twenty years old or older who are able to go to war. You and Aaron must register the troops,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The men counted are those twenty and older who are able to serve in war. The census prepares Israel as an army for the conquest of the promised land.
Overview
This was a military muster, identifying the fighting strength of the nation as it readied to march toward Canaan. Moses and Aaron, leaders in both civil and priestly spheres, oversee the count, showing the joining of authority and worship in Israel. The conquest points forward to the greater rest secured by Christ (Heb. 4:8-9).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Exod 30:14Everyone who passes over to those who are counted, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering to Yahweh.
- Num 14:29Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me,
- Num 26:2“Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers’ houses, all who are able to go out to war in Israel.”
- Exod 12:17You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this same day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance forever.
- Deut 3:18I commanded you at that time, saying, “Yahweh your God has given you this land to possess it. You shall pass over armed before your brothers the children of Israel, all the men of valor.
- Num 33:1These are the journeys of the children of Israel, when they went out of the land of Egypt by their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.
- Deut 24:5When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out in the army, neither shall he be assigned any business. He shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer his wife whom he has taken.
- 2 Sam 24:9Joab gave up the sum of the counting of the people to the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
- Num 32:11‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me,
- 2 Chr 26:11–13Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men, who went out to war by bands, according to the number of their reckoning made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains.
- 2 Chr 17:13–18He had many works in the cities of Judah; and men of war, mighty men of valor, in Jerusalem.
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 1:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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