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all who were numbered were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.
Numbers 1:46 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB even all those who were counted were six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty.
  • KJV Even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.
  • BSB And all those counted totaled 603,550.
  • NASB all the numbered men were 603,550.
  • NLT The total number was 603,550.

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 grand total of fighting men is 603,550. Israel has grown into a vast nation, fulfilling God's promise to Abraham.

Overview

This total, not counting Levites, women, and children, implies a population well over two million. Such growth fulfills God's promise to make Abraham's descendants as numerous as the stars (Gen. 15:5). The vast number testifies to God's faithfulness even amid Israel's frailty and sin.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 21

  • Exod 12:37The children of Israel traveled from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot who were men, besides children.
  • Exod 38:26a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for everyone who passed over to those who were counted, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty men.
  • Num 26:51These are those who were counted of the children of Israel, six hundred one thousand seven hundred thirty.
  • Num 2:32These are those who were counted of the children of Israel by their fathers’ houses. All who were counted of the camps according to their armies were six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty.
  • Gen 28:14Your offspring will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your offspring will all the families of the earth be blessed.
  • Gen 15:5Yahweh brought him outside, and said, “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “So will your offspring be.”
  • Gen 26:3Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For I will give to you, and to your offspring, all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
  • Gen 12:2I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing.
  • Rev 7:4–9I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel:
  • 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.
  • Gen 17:6I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you.
  • Num 23:10Who can count the dust of Jacob, or count the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous! Let my last end be like his!”
  • Gen 46:3–4He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation.
  • 2 Chr 13:3Abijah joined battle with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men; and Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, who were mighty men of valor.
  • Gen 22:17that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your offspring greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gate of his enemies.
  • Deut 10:22Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now Yahweh your God has made you as the stars of the sky for multitude.
  • Gen 13:16I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring may also be counted.
  • 1 Chr 21:5Joab gave up the sum of the census of the people to David. All those of Israel were one million one hundred thousand men who drew a sword; and in Judah were four hundred seventy thousand men who drew a sword.
  • 1 Kgs 4:20Judah and Israel were numerous as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry.
  • Heb 11:11–12By faith, even Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised.
  • 2 Chr 17:14–19This was the numbering of them according to their fathers’ houses: From Judah, the captains of thousands: Adnah the captain, and with him three hundred thousand mighty men of valor;

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Numbers videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Numbers 1:46YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on NumbersMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 1:46 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.