Discovery BoxNumbers 1:3 
Context1:3 You and Aaron are to number 1 all in Israel who can serve in the army, 2 those who are 3 twenty years old or older, 4 by their divisions. 5
Numbers 2:5
Context2:5 Those who will be camping next to them 6 are the tribe of Issachar. The leader of the people of Issachar is Nethanel son of Zuar.
Numbers 2:9
Context2:9 All those numbered of the camp of Judah, according to their divisions, are 186,400. They will travel 7 at the front.
Numbers 2:12
Context2:12 Those who will be camping next to them are the tribe of Simeon. The leader of the people of Simeon is Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.
Numbers 2:27
Context2:27 Those who will be camping next to them are the tribe of Asher. The leader of the people of Asher is Pagiel son of Ocran.
Numbers 2:32
Context2:32 These are the Israelites, numbered according to their families. 8 All those numbered in the camps, by their divisions, are 603,550.
Numbers 3:32
Context3:32 Now the head of all the Levitical leaders 9 was Eleazar son of Aaron the priest. He was appointed over those who were responsible 10 for the sanctuary.
Numbers 4:45
Context4:45 These are those numbered from the families of the Merarites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord by the authority of Moses.
Numbers 10:35
Context10:35 And when the ark traveled, Moses would say, “Rise up, O Lord! May your enemies be scattered, and may those who hate you flee before you!”
Numbers 14:6
Context14:6 And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, two of those who had investigated the land, tore their garments.
Numbers 16:39
Context16:39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers presented by those who had been burned up, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar.
Numbers 21:27
Context21:27 That is why those who speak in proverbs 11 say,
“Come to Heshbon, let it be built.
Let the city of Sihon be established! 12
Numbers 25:5
Context25:5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you must execute those of his men 13 who were joined to Baal-peor.”
Numbers 26:37
Context26:37 These were the families of the Ephraimites, according to those numbered of them, 32,500. 14 These were the descendants of Joseph by their families.
Numbers 26:63
Context26:63 These are those who were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the Israelites in the plains of Moab along the Jordan River opposite Jericho. 15
Numbers 31:27
Context31:27 Divide the plunder into two parts, one for those who took part in the war – who went out to battle – and the other for all the community.
1 tn The verb (פָּקַד, paqad) means “to visit, appoint, muster, number.” The word is a common one in scripture. It has as its basic meaning the idea of “determining the destiny” of someone, by appointing, mustering, or visiting. When God “visits,” it is a divine intervention for either blessing or cursing. Here it is the taking of a census for war (see G. André, Determining the Destiny [ConBOT], 16).
2 tn The construction uses the participle “going out” followed by the noun “army.” It describes everyone “going out in a military group,” meaning serving in the army. It was the duty of every able-bodied Israelite to serve in this “peoples” army. There were probably exemptions for the infirm or the crippled, but every male over twenty was chosen. For a discussion of warfare, see P. C. Craigie, The Problem of War in the Old Testament, and P. D. Miller, “The Divine Council and the Prophetic Call to War,” VT 18 (1968): 100-107.
3 tn The text simply has “from twenty years old and higher.”
4 tn Heb “and up.”
5 tn The noun (צָבָא, tsava’) means “army” or “military group.” But the word can also be used for nonmilitary divisions of labor (Num 4:3).
6 tn Heb “by him” [i.e., Judah].
7 tn The verb is נָסָע (nasa’): “to journey, travel, set out,” and here, “to move camp.” Judah will go first, or, literally, at the head of the nation, when they begin to travel.
8 tn Heb “the house of their fathers.” So also in v. 34.
9 tn The Hebrew construction has “the leader of the leaders of” (וּנְשִׂיא נְשִׂיאֵי, unÿsi’ nÿsi’ey).
10 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.
11 sn Proverbs of antiquity could include pithy sayings or longer songs, riddles, or poems composed to catch the significance or the irony of an event. This is a brief poem to remember the event, like an Egyptian victory song. It may have originated as an Amorite war taunt song; it was sung to commemorate this victory. It was cited later by Jeremiah (48:45-46). The composer invites his victorious people to rebuild the conquered city as a new capital for Sihon. He then turns to address the other cities which his God(s) has/have given to him. See P. D. Hanson, “The Song of Heshbon and David’s Nir,” HTR 61 (1968): 301.
12 tn Meaning, “rebuilt and restored.”
13 tn Heb “slay – a man his men.” The imperative is plural, and so “man” is to be taken collectively as “each of you men.”
14 sn This is a significant reduction from the first count of 40,500.
15 map For the location of Jericho see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.
