“Only the tribe of Levi you shall not count, neither shall you take a census of them among the children of Israel;
Parallel Translations
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“Only the tribe of Levi you shall not count, neither shall you take a census of them among the children of Israel;
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Only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel:
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'Howbeit the tribe of Levi thou shalt not number, neither shalt thou take the sum of them among the children of Israel;
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (2)
Passages linked to Numbers 1:49 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Numbers 26:62 Those who were counted of them were twenty-three thousand, every male from a month old and upward; for they were not counted among the children of Israel, because there was no inheritance given them among the children of Israel.
- Numbers 2:33 But the Levites were not counted among the children of Israel, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (5 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Because they were not generally to go out to…
Because they were not generally to go out to war, which was the thing principally eyed in this muster, Num 1:3,20,45 but were to attend upon the service or the tabernacle, and therefore are reserved to another distinct muster, Num 3:15; 4:2, &c. And lost this should bc thought to, be designed and done through Moses’s ambition to give his own tribe the pre-eminence, he assures them it was done by God’s express command.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Only thou shall not number the tribe of Levi,....…
Only thou shall not number the tribe of Levi,.... That is, along with the other tribes, for it might be numbered by itself, as it afterwards was, Num 3:43,
neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel; which confirms what is before observed: now this being the declared will of God clears Moses from all partiality to his own tribe, he doing nothing but what he had a command of God for it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Levi - Because they were not generally to go…
Levi - Because they were not generally to go out to war, which was the thing principally eyed in this muster, ver. 3, 20, 45, but were to attend upon the service of the tabernacle. They that minister upon holy things, should not entangle themselves in secular affairs. The ministry itself is work enough for a whole man, and all little enough to be employed in it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Num 1:49. Levi — Because they were not generally…
Num 1:49. Levi — Because they were not generally to go out to war, which was the thing principally eyed in this muster, (Num 1:3; Num 1:20; Num 1:45,) but were to attend upon the service of the tabernacle. They that minister upon holy things, should not entangle themselves in secular affairs. The ministry itself is work enough for a whole man, and all little enough to be employed in it.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 49. Tribe of Levi — This tribe, together with…
49. Tribe of Levi — This tribe, together with that of Simeon, because their founders had perpetrated the treacherous massacre of the Shechemites, (Gen_34:25-26,) were under the curse of Jacob: “I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.” Gen_49:7. Simeon was greatly reduced in number in the wilderness, and received a small portion in Canaan adjoining Judah, but was soon scattered in the cities of this stronger tribe. Levi was forbidden a portion of the Land of Promise except forty-eight cities in the other tribes, and was appointed to the charge of the tabernacle instead of the firstborn, who were sacred to Jehovah because they had been sanctified by the Lord, and spared when the destroyer slew the firstborn of the Egyptians. A branch of this family, the house of Aaron, became the priestly family, and the rest of the tribe, under the technical designation of Levites, were set apart to the menial services of the tabernacle, such as pitching, taking down, and transporting the sacred tent and its furniture. The curse of dispersion pronounced on Levi was thus converted into a blessing, 1,) because of the conspicuous faithfulness of Moses and Aaron, members of this tribe; and 2,) because of the commendable zeal for God of the whole tribe in the case of the golden calf. Exo_32:16. Every ancestral curse may be mitigated or changed into a blessing by the obedience of posterity to the Divine law. “But where sin abounded grace did much more abound.” Rom_5:20.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.