The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Book of Numbers
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Chapter 1
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1
In the second year after the escape from Egypt, on the first day of the second month, the Lord spoke to Moses in the tabernacle which attested his covenant, there in the desert of Sinai, giving him this message:
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Register the whole people of Israel by their clans and their households✻ and their several names, all that are of the male sex,
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of twenty years or more. Count up, thou and Aaron, the warriors of Israel by their companies;
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and from each tribe you shall have one man to help you, the head of a household and of a clan.
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These are their names; Elisur son of Sedeur for Ruben,
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Salamiel son of Surisaddai for Simeon,
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Nahasson son of Aminadab for Juda,
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Nathanael son of Suar for Issachar,
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Eliab son of Helon for Zabulon;
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and among the descendants of Joseph, Elisama son of Ammiud for Ephraim, and Gamaliel son of Phadassur for Manasses.
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For Benjamin, Abidan son of Gedeon;
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for Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammisaddai;
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for Aser, Phegiel son of Ochran;
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for Gad, Eliasaph son of Duel;
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for Nephthali, Ahira son of Enan.
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These were the men chosen out of the whole multitude to represent their tribes and clans, the leaders of Israel’s host.
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They were summoned by Moses and Aaron in the presence of the whole multitude,
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assembled there on the first day of the second month, and together they made a register by clans and households and families and persons, enrolling each man who was twenty years old or more.
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All alike were counted, there in the desert of Sinai, as the Lord had bidden Moses count them.
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Clan and household that came down from Ruben, Israel’s first-born, could muster warriors of twenty years and more,
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forty-six thousand five hundred.
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Of Simeon,
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fifty-nine thousand three hundred.
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Of Gad,
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forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty.
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Of Juda,
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seventy-four thousand six hundred.
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Of Issachar,
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fifty-four thousand four hundred.
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Of Zabulon,
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fifty-seven thousand four hundred.
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Among Joseph’s descendants, of Ephraim,
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forty thousand five hundred;
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of Manasses,
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thirty-two thousand two hundred.
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Of Benjamin,
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thirty-five thousand four hundred.
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Of Dan,
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sixty-two thousand seven hundred.
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Of Aser,
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forty-one thousand five hundred.
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Of Nephthali,
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fifty-three thousand four hundred.✻
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Such was the register Moses and Aaron and the twelve chiefs of Israel made, household by household and family by family;
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so that the whole muster-roll of warriors in Israel, twenty years old or more, by their households and families,
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was six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men.
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But no family in the tribe of Levi was counted in the reckoning;
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the Lord had said to Moses,
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Do not count the tribe of Levi, or register them among the sons of Israel.
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Give them charge of the tabernacle that bears record of me, all its appurtenances and all that goes with its worship. It is they who will carry the tabernacle with its appurtenances, they who will attend to the tabernacle and pitch their tents about it.
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The Levites will take the tabernacle down when the order is given for marching, and set it up when the order is given for encamping; no one else must come near it, on pain of death.
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Each Israelite will pitch his tent among the regiment, the company,✻ in which he goes to battle;
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round the tabernacle itself none but the Levites must encamp, or the whole people of Israel will incur my displeasure; theirs it is to keep watch over the tabernacle that bears record of me.
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Such was the Lord’s bidding to Moses, and the sons of Israel faithfully observed it.
