Discovery BoxNumbers 1:16 
Context1:16 These were the ones chosen 1 from the community, leaders 2 of their ancestral tribes. 3 They were the heads of the thousands 4 of Israel.
Numbers 1:44
Context1:44 These were the men whom Moses and Aaron numbered 5 along with the twelve leaders of Israel, each of whom 6 was from his own family.
Numbers 3:32
Context3:32 Now the head of all the Levitical leaders 7 was Eleazar son of Aaron the priest. He was appointed over those who were responsible 8 for the sanctuary.
Numbers 4:46
Context4:46 All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel numbered by their families and by their clans,
Numbers 7:84
Context7:84 This was the dedication for the altar from the leaders of Israel, when it was anointed: twelve silver platters, twelve silver sprinkling bowls, and twelve gold pans.
Numbers 10:4
Context10:4 “But if they blow with one trumpet, then the leaders, the heads of the thousands of Israel, must come to you. 9
Numbers 13:3
Context13:3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command 10 of the Lord. All of them were leaders 11 of the Israelites.
Numbers 16:2
Context16:2 and rebelled against Moses, along with some of the Israelites, 250 leaders 12 of the community, chosen from the assembly, 13 famous men. 14
Numbers 21:18
Context21:18 The well which the princes 15 dug,
which the leaders of the people opened
with their scepters and their staffs.”
And from the wilderness they traveled to Mattanah;
Numbers 27:2
Context27:2 And they stood before Moses and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said,
Numbers 31:26
Context31:26 “You and Eleazar the priest, and all the family leaders of the community, take the sum 16 of the plunder that was captured, both people and animals.
1 tc The form has a Kethib-Qere problem, but the sentence calls for the Qere, the passive participle in the construct – “the called of….” These men were God’s choice, and not Moses’, or their own choice. He announced who they would be, and then named them. So they were truly “called” (קָרָא, qara’). The other reading is probably due to a copyist’s error.
2 tn The word is נָשִׂיא (nasi’, “exalted one, prince, leader”). Cf. KJV, ASV, NAB “princes.” These were men apparently revered or respected in their tribes, and so the clear choice to assist Moses with the leadership. See further, E. A. Speiser, “Background and Function of the Biblical na„sÃþá,” CBQ 25 (1963): 111-17.
3 tn Heb “exalted ones of the tribes of their fathers.” The earlier group of elders was chosen by Moses at the advice of his father-in-law. This group represents the few leaders of the tribes that were chosen by God, a more literate group apparently, who were the forerunners of the שֹׁטְּרִים (shottÿrim).
4 tc The Hebrew text has אַלְפֵי (’alfey, “thousands of”). There is some question over this reading in the MT, however. The community groups that have these leaders were larger tribes, but there is little certainty about the size of the divisions.
5 tn The construction uses both the passive participle הַפְּקֻדִים (happÿqudim) and the verb פָּקַד (paqad), giving a literal translation of “these were the numbered ones, whom Moses and Aaron numbered.”
6 tn Heb “they were one man for the house of his fathers.”
7 tn The Hebrew construction has “the leader of the leaders of” (וּנְשִׂיא נְשִׂיאֵי, unÿsi’ nÿsi’ey).
8 tn Heb “the keepers of the responsibility” (שֹׁמְרֵי מִשְׁמֶרֶת, shomÿrey mishmeret). The participle is a genitive specifying the duty to which he was appointed (thing possessed); its cognate genitive emphasizes that their responsibility was over the holy place.
9 tn Heb “they shall assemble themselves.”
10 tn Heb “mouth.”
11 tn Heb “heads.”
12 tn Heb “princes” (so KJV, ASV).
13 tn These men must have been counselors or judges of some kind.
14 tn Heb “men of name,” or “men of renown.”
15 sn The brief song is supposed to be an old workers’ song, and so the mention of leaders and princes is unusual. Some think they are given credit because they directed where the workers were to dig. The scepter and staff might have served some symbolic or divining custom.
16 tn The idiom here is “take up the head,” meaning take a census, or count the totals.
