Numbers 1:2

1:2 “Take a census¹ of the entire² Israelite community³ by their clans and families,⁴ counting the name of every individual male.⁵

Numbers 4:34

Summary

4:34 So Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the community numbered the Kohathites by their families and by clans,

Numbers 8:9

8:9 You are to bring the Levites before the tent of meeting and assemble the entire community of the Israelites.

Numbers 10:3

10:3 When⁶ they blow⁷ them both, all the community must come⁸ to you to the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Numbers 14:5

14:5 Then Moses and Aaron fell down with their faces to the ground⁹ before the whole assembled community¹⁰ of the Israelites.

Numbers 15:33

15:33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community.

Numbers 15:36

15:36 So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death,¹¹ just as the Lord commanded Moses.

Numbers 20:2

20:2 And there was no water for the community, and so they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron.

Numbers 20:27

20:27 So Moses did as the Lord commanded; and they went up Mount Hor in the sight¹² of the whole community.

Numbers 20:29

20:29 When all the community saw that Aaron was dead, the whole house of Israel mourned for Aaron thirty days.

Numbers 27:16

27:16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all humankind,¹³ appoint¹⁴ a man over the community,

Numbers 31:13

31:13 Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the community went out to meet them outside the camp.

Numbers 32:2

32:2 the Gadites and the Reubenites came and addressed Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the community. They said,

Numbers 32:4

32:4 the land that the Lord subdued¹⁵ before the community of Israel, is ideal for cattle, and your servants have cattle.”

Numbers 35:24

35:24 then the community must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these decisions.

¹tn The construction is literally “lift up the head[s],” (שְׂאוּ אֶת־רֹאשׁ, sÿ’u ’et-ro’sh). This idiom for taking a census occurs elsewhere (Exod 30:12; Lev 5:24; Num 1:24; etc.). The idea is simply that of counting heads to arrive at the base for the standing army. This is a different event than the one recorded in Exod 30:11-16, which was taken for a different purpose altogether. The verb is plural, indicating that Moses had help in taking the census.

²tc Smr lacks the Hebrew word “all” here.

³tn Heb “the congregation of Israel.”

⁴tn The tribe (מַטֶּה, matteh or שֵׁבֶט, shevet) is the main category. The family groups or clans (מִשְׁפְּחֹת, mishpÿkhot) and the households or families (בֵּית אֲבֹת, bet ’avot) were sub-divisions of the tribe.

⁵tn This clause simply has “in/with the number of the names of every male with respect to their skulls [individually].” Counting heads, or every skull, simply meant that each person was to be numbered in the census. Except for the Levites, no male was exempt from the count.

⁶tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated as a temporal clause to the following similar verbal construction.

⁷tn The verb תָקַע (taqa’) means “to strike, drive, blow a trumpet.”

⁸tn Heb “the assembly shall assemble themselves.”

⁹sn This action of Moses and Aaron is typical of them in the wilderness with the Israelites. The act shows self-abasement and deference before the sovereign Lord. They are not bowing before the people here, but in front of the people they bow before God. According to Num 17:6-15 this prostration is for the purpose of intercessory prayer. Here it prevents immediate wrath from God.

¹⁰tn Heb “before all the assembly of the congregation.”

¹¹tn Heb “stoned him with stones, and he died.”

¹²tn Heb “eyes.”

¹³tn Heb “flesh”; cf. NAB, NIV “all mankind”; NCV “all people”; NLT “all living things.”

¹⁴tn This is the same verb פָּקַד (paqad) that is used throughout the book for the aspect of “numbering” the people.

¹⁵tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect of נָכָה (nakhah), a term that can mean “smite, strike, attack, destroy.”