Numbers 1:47

The Exemption of the Levites

1:47 But ¹  the Levites, according to the tribe of their fathers, ²  were not numbered ³  among them.

Numbers 2:33

2:33 But the Levites were not numbered among the other Israelites, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Numbers 3:42

3:42 So Moses numbered all the firstborn males among the Israelites, as the Lord had commanded him.

Numbers 8:18

8:18 So I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn sons among the Israelites.

Numbers 16:21

16:21 “Separate yourselves ⁴  from among this community, ⁵  that I may consume them in an instant.”

Numbers 26:56

26:56 Their inheritance must be apportioned ⁶  by lot among the larger and smaller groups.

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¹ tn The vav (ו) on this word indicates a disjunction with the previous sequence of reports. It may be taken as a contrastive clause, translated “but” or “however.”

² tn The construction is unexpected, for Levites would be from the tribe of Levi. The note seems more likely to express that all these people were organized by tribal lineage, and so too the Levites, according to the tribe of their fathers – individual families of Levites.

³ tc The form in the text is הָתְפָּקְדוּ (hotpaqÿdu); if this is correct, then it is an isolated instance of the reflexive of the Qal of פָּקַד (paqad). Some, however, explain the form as the Hitpael without the doubling of the middle letter and with a compensatory lengthening of the vowel before it (G. B. Gray, Numbers [ICC], 10).

⁴ tn The verb is הִבָּדְלוּ (hibbadÿlu), the Niphal imperative of בָּדַל (badal). This is the same word that was just used when Moses reminded the Levites that they had been separated from the community to serve the Lord.

⁵ sn The group of people siding with Korah is meant, and not the entire community of the people of Israel. They are an assembly of rebels, their “community” consisting in their common plot.

⁶ tn Heb “divided.”