Numbers 3:39

3:39 All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered by the word ¹  of the Lord, according to their families, every male from a month old and upward, were 22,000. ² 

Numbers 4:47

4:47 from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, everyone who entered to do the work of service and the work of carrying ³  relating to the tent of meeting –

Numbers 8:24

8:24 “This is what pertains to the Levites: ⁴  At the age of twenty-five years ⁵  and upward one may begin to join the company ⁶  in the work of the tent of meeting,

Numbers 14:29

14:29 Your dead bodies ⁷  will fall in this wilderness – all those of you who were numbered, according to your full number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me.

Numbers 26:62

26:62 Those of them who were numbered were 23,000, all males from a month old and upward, for they were not numbered among the Israelites; no inheritance was given to them among the Israelites.

Numbers 32:11

32:11 ‘Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, ⁸  not ⁹  one of the men twenty years old and upward ¹⁰  who came from Egypt will see the land that I swore to give ¹¹  to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,

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¹ tn Here again the Hebrew has “at the mouth of,” meaning in accordance with what the Lord said. So also in v. 51.

² tn The total is a rounded off number; it does not duplicate the precise total of 22,300. Some modern scholars try to explain it by positing an error in v. 28, suggesting that “six” should be read as “three” (שֵׁשׁ [shesh] as שָׁלֹשׁ [shalosh]).

³ tn The text multiplies the vocabulary of service here in the summary. In the Hebrew text the line reads literally: “everyone who came to serve the service of serving, and the service of burden.” The Levites came into service in the shrine, and that involved working in the sanctuary as well as carrying it from one place to the next.

⁴ tn The Hebrew text has “this [is that] which [pertains] to the Levites.” “This is what concerns the Levites, meaning, the following rulings are for them.

⁵ tc The age of twenty-five indicated in v. 24 should be compared with the age of thirty indicated in Num 4:3,23,30. In order to harmonize the numbers given in chapter 4 with the number given in Num 8:24 the LXX (and perhaps its Hebrew Vorlage) has thirty in all of these references. See further G. J. Wenham, Numbers (TOTC 4), 97-98.

⁶ tn The infinitive is לִצְבֹא (litsvo’), related to the word for “host, army, company,” and so “to serve as a company.” The meaning is strengthened by the cognate accusative following it.

⁷ tn Or “your corpses” (also in vv. 32, 33).

⁸ tn The clause is difficult; it means essentially that “they have not made full [their coming] after” the Lord.

⁹ tn The sentence begins with “if they see….” This is the normal way for Hebrew to express a negative oath – “they will by no means see….” The sentence is elliptical; it is saying something like “[May God do so to me] if they see,” meaning they won’t see. Of course here God is taking the oath, which is an anthropomorphic act. He does not need to take an oath, and certainly could not swear by anyone greater, but it communicates to people his resolve.

¹⁰ tc The LXX adds “those knowing bad and good.”

¹¹ tn The words “to give” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.