Numbers 26

Moses counts the people again

1 When the bad disease stopped killing people, the Lord spoke to Moses and to Eleazar, the son of Aaron. 2 He said, ‘Count all the Israelites, clan by clan. Count all the men who are 20 years old or older. Count only those men who can fight in the army.’ 3 So Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke to the Israelites. Their camp was on the flat ground of Moab, beside the Jordan River. Jericho was on the other side of the river. They said, 4 ‘Count all the men who are 20 years old or older. The Lord has told Moses that we must do that.’

These are the names of the Israelites who came out of Egypt:

5 The tribe of Reuben, Jacob's firstborn son had these clans: Hanoch's family, Pallu's family, 6 Hezron's family and Carmi's family. 7 There were 43,730 men in the clans of the tribe of Reuben.

8 Pallu's descendant was Eliab. 9 Eliab's descendants were Nemuel, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram were the men who turned against Moses and Aaron. Korah was their leader and they all turned against the Lord. 10 A hole opened in the ground. Korah, Dathan, Abiram and their families fell into the hole and they died. And fire killed 250 other men. So they became a sign to warn the other Israelites. 11 But Korah's clan did not all die at that time.

12 The tribe of Simeon had these clans: Nemuel's family, Jamin's family, Jakin's family, 13 Zerah's family and Shaul's family. 14 There were 22,200 men in the clans of the tribe of Simeon.

15 The tribe of Gad had these clans: Zephon's family, Haggi's family, Shuni's family, 16 Ozni's family, Eri's family, 17 Arod's family and Areli's family. 18 There were 40,500 men in the clans of the tribe of Gad.

19 The sons of Judah were Er and Onan, but Er and Onan died in Canaan. 20 The tribe of Judah had these clans: Shelah's family, Perez's family, Zerah's family, 21 Hezron's family and Hamul's family. 22 There were 76,500 men in the clans of the tribe of Judah.

23 The tribe of Issachar had these clans: Tola's family, Puah's family, 24 Jashub's family and Shimron's family. 25 There were 64,300 men in the clans of the tribe of Issachar.

26 The tribe of Zebulun had these clans: Sered's family, Elon's family and Jahleel's family. 27 There were 60,500 men in the clans of the tribe of Zebulun.

28 The descendants of Joseph became two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim.

29 The tribe of Manasseh had these clans: Makir's family and Gilead's family. Makir was Gilead's father. 30 These clans came from Gilead's descendants: Iezer's family, Helek's family, 31 Asriel's family, Shechem's family, 32 Shemida's family and Hepher's family. 33 Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, had no sons, but only daughters. The names of Zelophehad's daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. 34 There were 52,700 men in the clans of the tribe of Manasseh.

35 The tribe of Ephraim had these clans: Shuthelah's family, Becher's family, and Tahan's family. 36 Eran's family was a clan from the descendants of Shuthelah. 37 There were 32,500 men in the clans of the tribe of Ephraim. The clans of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim were all descendants of Joseph.

38 The tribe of Benjamin had these clans: Bela's family, Ashbel's family, Ahiram's family, 39 Shupham's family and Hupham's family. 40 Ard's family and Naaman's family were clans from Bela's descendants. 41 There were 45,600 men in the clans of the tribe of Benjamin.

42 The tribe of Dan had this clan: Shuham's family. 43 There were 64,400 men in Shuham's clan.

44 The tribe of Asher had these clans: Imnah's family, Ishvi's family and Beriah's family. 45 Heber's family and Malkiel's family were clans from Beriah's descendants. 46 There was also a daughter of Asher who was called Serah. 47 There were 53,400 men in the clans of the tribe of Asher.

48 The tribe of Naphtali had these clans: Jahzeel's family, Guni's family, 49 Jezer's family and Shillem's family. 50 There were 45,400 men in the clans of the tribe of Naphtali.

51 There were 601,730 men on the list of all the Israelites.

Each tribe will receive some land in Canaan

52 The Lord said to Moses, 53 ‘I will give part of the land to each tribe. You need to know the number of names that you have on your list for each tribe. 54 The big tribes will receive a big piece of land. The small tribes will receive a smaller piece of land. 55 You must use lots to decide the land that each tribe receive. 56 The larger clans must have more land than the smaller clans.’

57 The Levites included these clans: Gershon's family, Kohath's family and Merari's family. 58 It also included these clans: Libni's family, Hebron's family, Mahli's family, Mushi's family and Korah's family. Kohath was the father of Amram. 59 The name of Amram's wife was Jochebed. She was a descendant of Levi, and she was born in Egypt. Amram and Jochebed were the parents of Moses and Aaron, and their sister Miriam. 60 Aaron was the father of Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 61 Nadab and Abihu died when they offered strange fire to the Lord.

62 There were 23,000 male Levites who were more than one month old. Moses did not include them on the list of the other Israelite tribes. They did not receive any land as the other tribes did.

63 Those are the men that Moses and Eleazar the priest counted. They counted them on the flat ground in Moab beside the Jordan River. Jericho was on the other side of the river. 64 None of the men that Moses and Aaron had counted in the Sinai desert were still alive. 65 The Lord had said about those men, ‘They will certainly die in the desert.’ Among all those men, only Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun were still alive.