Numbers 26
Moses and Eleazar count the Israelites
1After so many Israelites had died, the Lord talked to Moses and Eleazar, the priest, son of Aaron, and He said: 2‘You must count all the Israelites, everyone who is 20 years old or older, and anyone who can go to war. You must also write down from what families they come.’
3Then Moses and Eleazar, the priest, talked to the Israelites in the Moab Flatlands next to the Jordan River near the city of Jericho. They told them 4that they wanted the names of everyone who was 20 years old or older. The Lord told Moses to do it, as they did when the Israelites came out of Egypt.
5Reuben was the oldest son of Israel.
The families in the Reuben tribe were: Hanok, Pallu, 6Hezron and Karmi. 7There were 43 730 people in the families of the Reuben tribe. 8The son of Pallu was Eliab, 9and the sons of Eliab were Nemuel, Dathan and Abiram. The people had chosen Dathan and Abiram to be leaders. They were the people who rebelled_against Moses and Aaron with the group of Korah. They were also rebellious_against the Lord. 10Then the earth opened and swallowed them with Korah. The Korah group died when 250 of their men were burnt. They became a sign to the other people, 11but the children of Korah did not die.
12The families in the Simeon tribe were: Nemuel, Jamin, Jakin, 13Zerah and Shaul. 14There were 22 200 people in the families of the Simeon tribe.
15The families in the Gad tribe were: Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, 16Ozni, Eri, 17Arod and Areli. 18There were 40 500 people in the families of the Gad tribe.
19Er and Onan were sons of Judah, but they died in Canaan. 20The families of the Judah tribe were: Shelah, Perez and Zerah. 21The families of the descendants of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. 22There were 76 500 people in the families of the Judah tribe.
23The families of the Issachar tribe were Tola, Puah, 24Jashub and Shimron. 25There were 64 300 people in the families of the Issachar tribe.
26The families of the Zebulun tribe were: Sered, Elon and Jahleel. 27There were 60 500 people in the families of the Zebulun tribe.
28Joseph was the forefather of the families of Manasseh and Ephraim. 29The first family in the Manasseh tribe was Makir and the people of Makir were the forefathers of the Gilead families. 30The Gilead families were: Gilead, Iezer, Helek, 31Asriel, Shechem, 32Shemida and Hepher. 33Zelophehad, son of Hepher, had no sons. He had only daughters. The names of the daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirzah.
34There were 52 700 people in the families of Manasseh. 35The families of Ephraim were Shuthelah, Beker and Tahan. 36Shuthelah was also the forefather of the Eran family. 37There were 32 500 people in the families of the Ephraim tribe. These were all the families who were descendants of Joseph.
38The families of the Benjamin tribe were: Bela, Ashbel, Ahiram, 39Shupham and Hupham. 40Bela was the forefather of the Ard and Naaman families. 41There were 45 600 people in the families of the Benjamin tribe.
42The Shuham family was the only family of the Dan tribe. 43There were 64 400 people in the family of Shuham.
44The families of the Asher tribe were Imnah, Ishvi and Beriah. 45Beriah was the forefather of the families of Heber and Malkiel. 46Asher also had a daughter whose name was Serah. 47There were 53 400 people in the families of the Asher tribe.
48The families of the Naphtali tribe were Jahzeel, Guni, 49Jezer and Shillem. 50There were 45 400 people in the families of the Naphtali tribe.
51All of the Israelites together were 601 730.
Moses must divide the land among the tribes
52The Lord said to Moses: 53‘You must divide the land among these families. Each family must get as much land as the number of people in the family. 54You must give a big family a bigger part of the land and a small family a smaller part of the land. Each family must get as much land as the number of people in the family. 55But you must draw_lots when you divide the land. 56The lots will show what part of land each family must get, what land the big families must get and what land the small families must get.’
57The families in the Levi tribe were Gershon, Kohath and Merari. 58There were also other Levi families. They were Libni, Hebron, Mahli, Mushi and Korah. Kohath was the father of Amram, 59and Amram married Jochebed. She was born in the land of Egypt and she was a descendant of Levi. She and Amram had 3 children. They were Aaron, Moses and their sister Miriam. 60Aaron was the father of Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 61But Nadab and Abihu died when they sacrificed_offerings to the Lord with fire that the Lord did not want. 62There were 23 000 men in the Levi families who were one month old or older. Moses and Eleazar did not count them with the other Israelites because they did not get land with the other Israelites.
63Moses and the priest Eleazar counted all these people in the flatlands of Moab, next to the Jordan River, near the city of Jericho. 64Moses had not counted any of these people when he counted the people the first time in the Sinai Desert. 65The Lord had told those Israelites that they would all die in the desert, that was sure. Not one of those Israelites stayed alive. Only Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun, were still_alive.
English Bible for the Deaf © Bible Society of South Africa 2019. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
