The camps of the tribes
1The Lord talked to Moses and Aaron and said: 2‘Each tribe must put up their tents where the flag of their family is. They must camp around the tent of the Lord.
3-9The flag of Judah's camp must be east of the tent of the Lord. The tribes who must put up their tents in groups with them are:
Judah, that has 74 600 men, whose leader is Nahshon, son of Amminadab,
Issachar, that has 54 400 men, whose leader is Nethanel, son of Zuar,
Zebulun, that has 57 400 men, whose leader is Eliab, son of Helon.
There are 186 400 men in the Judah camp and they must go first.
10-16The flag of the Reuben camp must be south of the tent of the Lord. The tribes that must put up their tents in groups there are:
the 46 500 men in the Reuben camp, whose leader is Elizur, son of Shedeur,
Simeon, that has 59 300 men, whose leader is Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai,
Gad, that has 46 650 men, whose leader is Eliasaph, son of Deuel.
There are 151 450 men in the Reuben camp and they must go 2nd.
17Then the Levites must carry the tent, where the Lord appears to the Israelites. The tents of the Levites must be in the middle of the camp and every tribe must go when it is time for them to go, each tribe with their flag.
18-24The flag of the Ephraim camp must be west of the tent of the Lord. The tribes that must put up their tents in groups there are:
Ephraim, that has 40 500 men, whose leader is Elishama, son of Ammihud,
Manasseh, that has 32 200 men, whose leader is Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur,
Benjamin, that has 35 400 men, whose leader is Abidan, son of Gideoni.
There are 108 100 men in the Ephraim camp and they must go 3rd.
25-31The flag of the Dan camp must be north of the tent of the Lord. The tribes that must put their tents in groups there are:
Dan, that has 62 700 men, whose leader is Ahiezer, son of Ammishaddai,
Asher, that has 41 500 men, whose leader is Pagiel, son of Okran,
Naphtali, that has 53 400 men, whose leader is Ahira, son of Enan.
There are 157 600 men in the Dan camp and they must go last.’
32Moses and the leaders counted the Israelites in the camps. They counted how many people there were in each family and group. There were 603 550 altogether. 33Moses did not count the Levites with the other Israelites. The Lord had told Moses not to count them. 34The Israelites did everything that the Lord told Moses to do. They put up their tents near their flags and the clans and families of each tribe went when it was time for them to go.
