from twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go out to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall count them by their divisions.
Parallel Translations
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from twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go out to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall count them by their divisions.
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From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies.
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from twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: ye shall number them by their hosts, even thou and Aaron.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Numbers 1:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 30:14 Everyone who passes over to those who are counted, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering to Yahweh.
- Numbers 14:29 Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me,
- Exodus 12:17 You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this same day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance forever.
- Numbers 26:2 “Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers’ houses, all who are able to go out to war in Israel.”
- Numbers 32:11 ‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me,
- Numbers 33:1 These are the journeys of the children of Israel, when they went out of the land of Egypt by their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.
- Deuteronomy 3:18 I commanded you at that time, saying, “Yahweh your God has given you this land to possess it. All of you men of valor shall pass over armed before your brothers, the children of Israel.
- Deuteronomy 24:5 When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out in the army, neither shall he be assigned any business. He shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer his wife whom he has taken.
- 2 Samuel 24:9 Joab gave up the sum of the counting of the people to the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
- 2 Chronicles 26:11-13 Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men, who went out to war by bands, according to the number of their reckoning made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains. The whole number of the heads of fathers’ households, even the mighty men of valor, was two thousand six hundred. Under their hand was an army, three hundred seven thousand five hundred, who made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy.
- 2 Chronicles 17:13-18 He had many works in the cities of Judah; and men of war, mighty men of valor, in Jerusalem. This was the numbering of them according to their fathers’ houses: From Judah, the captains of thousands: Adnah the captain, and with him three hundred thousand mighty men of valor; and next to him Jehohanan the captain, and with him two hundred eighty thousand; and next to him Amasiah the son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself to Yahweh, and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valor. From Benjamin: Eliada, a mighty man of valor, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield; and next to him Jehozabad, and with him one hundred eighty thousand ready and prepared for war.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 1:3 From twenty years old and upward, all…
Num 1:3 From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies.
Ver. 3. All that are able.] The people perceiving how many hundred thousand strong they were, might go on with more courage against their enemies. It is an ancient custom in Scotland, in cases of importance, to command the fire cross to be carried; that is, two fire brands to be set in fashion of a cross, and pitched upon the point of a spear, and proclamation is thereupon made, that all men, above sixteen years of age and under sixty, shall come into the field to advance against the common enemy. {a}
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{a} Sir John Heywood, in the Life of King Edward VI.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain From twenty years old and upwards,.... All that had…
From twenty years old and upwards,.... All that had entered into their twentieth year, or, as it should rather seem, who were full twenty years of age, and all that were above it without any limitation; though some limit it to fifty, and others to sixty years, when men may be reasonably excused going to war; for to know who were fit for it seems to be a principal design of this order, as follows:
all that are able to go forth to war in Israel; who being about to journey, might expect to meet with enemies, with whom they would be obliged to engage in battle; and therefore it was proper to know their strength, and whom to call out upon occasion: Aben Ezra observes, that the phrase "in Israel" excepts the mixed multitude; those were not of Israel, and so not numbered, and perhaps not to be trusted or depended upon in war; nor were they mustered and marshalled by the standards of the several tribes; in a mystical sense, those numbered may signify the valiant of Israel, the same as the young men in Jo1 2:14; see Sol 3:7,
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thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies; each tribe making a considerable army; see Gill on Exo 7:4; these people were now typical of the church of God in its militant state in the wilderness, for which they are provided, and prepared, and accoutred.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. From twenty years old and upward] In…
Verse 3. From twenty years old and upward] In this census no women were reckoned, nor children, nor strangers, nor the Levites, nor old men, which, collectively, must have formed an immense multitude; the Levites alone amounted to 22,300. True-born Israelites only are reckoned; such as were able to carry arms, and were expert for war.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Num 1:3. That are able to go forth to…
Num 1:3. That are able to go forth to war — It would seem from this that none of the aged and infirm were numbered, as being unable to go to war. Among several other nations as well as the Jews, particularly the Romans, all who were of age to bear arms were obliged, upon some occasions, to go forth to battle. And hence it is that we read of the kings of Israel bringing such numerous armies into the field as appear hardly credible to those who judge of their manners by ours.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Arms, (fortium). "Strong or brave." The psalmist (civ. 37,)…
Arms, (fortium). "Strong or brave." The psalmist (civ. 37,) says, there was not one feeble. (Menochius) --- Troops. Hebrew, "army." Septuagint, "force." Their officers shall be at their head, and shall assist you in the work. Some might command 1000, others 100, and some only 50. See Exodus xiii. 18., and xviii. 21. --- [Ver. 4.] Princes; the first-born, or most ancient, (Lyranus,) the lineal descendants of the patriarchs; (Jansen) or, in fine, such as were chosen for their merit, as all were equally noble; and hence Nahasson, prince of Juda, is mentioned, though he was not a descendant of the eldest son of Juda, but of Phares; and those who were at the head of those who were numbered a little before the death of Moses, were not the descendants of these, chap. xxvi. 64. In effect, we find that Moses chose for his council, able men out of all Israel, Exodus xviii. 25. (Bonfrere) (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Aaron shall number them by their armies--or companies. In…
Aaron shall number them by their armies--or companies. In their departure from Egypt they were divided into five grand companies (Exo 13:18), but from the sojourn in the wilderness to the passage of the Jordan, they were formed into four great divisions. The latter is here referred to.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. Twenty years — From the son of twenty…
3. Twenty years — From the son of twenty years. This was the law ever afterwards. The word able does not occur in the Hebrew. If it had been written, the names of the sick and aged men would not have been enrolled, and the enumerators must have added to their functions those of surgical examiners. Exemptions from military service were established on Divine authority several years afterwards. See Deu_20:5-8. There is not the least hint in the text of an upper limit to the military age. Yet Josephus asserts that this census enrolled only the fighting men between twenty and fifty years of age. It is quite probable that subsequent legislation fixed the maximum age at fifty years, and that Josephus (Ant., Num_3:12; Num_3:4) has carried the law back too far. For if there had been such a maximum age it would have been expressed with the minimum. Moreover, since the grand total of this military muster-roll is exactly the same as that of the poll-offering in Exo_38:26, it would follow, according to Josephus’s statement, that all above fifty years must have been exempted from the offering. Of this immunity there is no hint, either in the original command (Exo_30:11-16) or in the report of its execution. Exo_38:26.
Thou and Aaron shall number — Number is not the idea of the Hebrew, but rather review, muster, arrange. Moses and Aaron were to constitute a board of superintendence, while the details of the census were to be attended to by a commission of twelve distinguished men, one from each tribe. These would be sufficient, for the chief labour of the census had already been performed. In arranging for the service of the newly-erected tabernacle, nine months before, it had been ordained that each person enumerated should pay half a shekel, about twenty-seven cents, atonement money, “a ransom for his soul unto the Lord.” See Exo_30:12. Since the atonement money had already been offered, (Exo_38:25-28,) we infer that a census had already been taken in the tribes, or in subdivisions of tribes, and records made of the results. The office of the census board, just appointed by God, was, probably, to collect and classify those registrations which had already been made, and draw out the people into military divisions.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) From twenty years old and upward.—The result of…
(3) From twenty years old and upward.—The result of the previous numbering (Exo_30:12; Exo_38:26), which was made about six months earlier, and which was probably obtained by counting the number of half-shekels which were paid, as Ithamar appears to have done (Exo_38:2), exactly corresponds with the result of the present census (Num_1:46). But the complete census, or numbering and enrolment of the persons according to tribes, families, and fathers’ houses, appears to have been deferred until after the erection of the tabernacle, towards the construction of which the atonement money had been paid. If the whole was done in obedience to the command contained in Exo_30:12, and was regarded as one transaction, those only would be numbered on the second occasion who had already paid their atonement money. There is nothing impossible in the supposition that the whole of those who had been numbered six months previously were still alive, but no allowance is made, on this supposition, for the number of those who were below twenty years of age at the earlier period, and who had exceeded that age at the later period. Inasmuch, however, as the sum-total in both cases is divisible by ten, and inasmuch as the separate items in this chapter are given in tens (the smallest subdivision of the people which was adopted by Moses, on the recommendation of Jethro, Exo_18:21), no objection to the historical accuracy of both records can be sustained if it be allowed that the number of those who had attained the age of twenty years since the earlier census corresponded nearly with the number of deaths during the same period. The whole of the objection, however, is removed in a far more satisfactory manner by the supposition that there was only one census. (See the Introduction.)
By their armies.—Better, their hosts or companies.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain By their armies. Every citizen was a soldier. The…
By their armies. Every citizen was a soldier. The military monarchies of mediaeval or of modern days, with their universal obligation to service in the ranks, have (so far) but followed the example of ancient Israel.
"From twenty years old and upward.
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By this census all the young men of Israel were urged to the consideration of a possible claim upon them. It is to the young men that a country looks when her integrity and liberties are in danger. Young men are wanted still to take a brave and intelligent part in the strife of the Church militant. "I have written unto you young men because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one." So Paul to Timothy: "Endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." God"s people have to deal with the Canaanites, Amorites, and all the rest of the hostile nations. Many iniquities are in possession of the earth. Old men, who have struggled against them and done something to diminish them, ask who will take up the sword and shield and go forth against the mighty. The word comes to us. "You are fit to fight. Will you fight?" Young men dazzled with the visions of military glory, here is a campaign where not men are slaughtered, but the evils that ruin men. Our Lord, the Captain of our salvation, will richly equip us with weapons mighty for the pulling down of strongholds, the armour of righteousness on the right hand and the left. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.