Numbers 26-27

Complete Jewish Bible

26 Adonai said to Moshe and El‘azar, the son of Aharon the cohen, ² “Take a census of the entire assembly of the people of Isra’el twenty years old and over, by their ancestral clans, all who are subject to military service in Isra’el.” ³ Moshe and El‘azar the cohen spoke with them on the plains of Mo’av by the Yarden across from Yericho, explaining, ⁴ “Those twenty years old and over who came out of the land of Egypt, as Adonai ordered Moshe and the people of Isra’el.”

(ii) ⁵ [The census results begin with] Re’uven, the firstborn of Isra’el. The descendants of Re’uven were: of Hanokh, the family of the Hanokhi; of Pallu, the family of the Pallu’i; ⁶ of Hetzron, the family of the Hetzroni; and of Karmi the family of the Karmi. ⁷ These were the the families of the Re’uveni; of them were counted 43,730.

⁸ The sons of Pallu: Eli’av; ⁹ and the sons of Eli’av: N’mu’el, Datan and Aviram. These are the same Datan and Aviram, men of reputation in the community, who rebelled against Moshe and Aharon in Korach’s group, when they rebelled against Adonai; ¹⁰ and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korach when that group died, and the fire consumed 250 men, and they became a warning sign. ¹¹ (However, the sons of Korach did not die.)

¹² The descendants of Shim‘on, by their families, were: of N’mu’el, the family of the N’mu’eli; of Yamin, the family of the Yamini; of Yakhin, the family of the Yakhini; ¹³ of Zerach, the family of the Zarchi; and of Sha’ul, the family of the Sha’uli. ¹⁴ These were the families of the Shim‘oni, 22,200.

¹⁵ The descendants of Gad, by their families, were: of Tz’fon, the family of the Tz’foni; of Haggi, the family of the Haggi; of Shuni, the family of the Shuni; ¹⁶ of Ozni, the family of the Ozni; of ‘Eri, the family of the ‘Eri; ¹⁷ of Arod, the family of the Arodi; and of Ar’eli, the family of the Ar’eli. ¹⁸ These were the families of the sons of Gad, according to those counted of them, 40,500.

¹⁹ The sons of Y’hudah: First ‘Er and Onan, but ‘Er and Onan died in the land of Kena‘an. ²⁰ The sons of Y’hudah who had descendants were: of Shelah, the family of the Shelani; of Peretz, the family of the Partzi; and of Zerach, the family of the Zarchi. ²¹ The sons of Peretz were: of Hetzron, the family of the Hetzroni; and of Hamul, the family of the Hamuli. ²² These were the families of Y’hudah, according to those counted of them, 76,500.

²³ The descendants of Yissakhar, by their families, were: of Tola, the family of the Tola‘i; of Puvah, the family of the Puni; ²⁴ of Yashuv, the family of the Yashuvi; and of Shimron, the family of the Shimroni. ²⁵ These were the families of Yissakhar, according to those counted of them, 64,300.

²⁶ The descendants of Z’vulun, by their families, were: of Sered, the family of the Sardi; of Elon, the family of the Eloni; and of Yachle’el, the family of the Yachle’eli. ²⁷ These were the families of the Z’vuloni, according to those counted of them, 60,500.

²⁸ The sons of Yosef, by their families, were M’nasheh and Efrayim. ²⁹ The descendants of M’nasheh were: of Makhir, the family of the Makhiri. Makhir was the father of Gil‘ad; of Gil‘ad, the family of the Gil‘adi. ³⁰ These are the descendants of Gil‘ad: of I‘ezer, the family of the I‘ezri; of Helek, the family of the Helki; ³¹ of Asri’el, the family of the Asri’eli; of Sh’khem, the family of the Shikhmi; ³² of Sh’mida, the family of the Sh’mida‘i; and of Hefer, the family of the Hefri. ³³ Tz’lof’chad the son of Hefer had no sons but daughters; the names of the daughters of Tz’lof’chad were Machlah, No‘ah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirtzah. ³⁴ These were the families of M’nasheh; of them were counted 52,700.

³⁵ These are the descendants of Efrayim, by their families: of Shutelach, the family of the Shutalchi; of Bekher, the family of the Bakhri; and of Tachan, the family of the Tachani. ³⁶ These are the descendants of Shutelach: of ‘Eran, the family of the ‘Erani. ³⁷ These were the families of the descendants of Efrayim, according to those of them that were counted, 32,500. These were the descendants of Yosef, by their families.

³⁸ The descendants of Binyamin, by their families were: of Bela, the family of the Bal‘i; of Ashbel, the family of the Ashbeli; of Achiram, the family of the Achirami; ³⁹ of Sh’fufam, the family of the Shufami; and of Hufam, the family of the Hufami. ⁴⁰ The sons of Bela were Ard and Na‘aman; [of Ard,] the family of the Ardi; and of Na‘aman, the family of the Na‘ami. ⁴¹ These were the descendants of Binyamin, by their families; of them were counted 45,600.

⁴² The descendants of Dan, by their families, were: of Shucham, the family of the Shuchami. These are the families of Dan, by their families. ⁴³ All the families of the Shuchami, according to those of them that were counted, were 64,400.

⁴⁴ The descendants of Asher, by their families: of Yimnah, the family of the Yimnah; of Yishvi, the family of the Yishvi; and of B’ri‘ah, the family of the B’ri‘i. ⁴⁵ Of the descendants of B’ri‘ah: of Hever, the family of the Hevri; and of Malki’el, the family of the Malki’eli. ⁴⁶ The name of Asher’s daughter was Serach. ⁴⁷ These were the families of the descendants of Asher, according to those of them that were counted, 53,400.

⁴⁸ The descendants of Naftali, by their families: of Yachtze’el, the families of the Yachtze’eli; of Guni, the family of the Guni; ⁴⁹ of Yetzer, the family of the Yitzri; and of Shillem, the family of the Shillemi. ⁵⁰ These are the families of Naftali according to their families; those of them that were counted were 45,400.

⁵¹ Thus those who were counted of the people of Isra’el numbered 601,730.

(iii) ⁵² Adonai said to Moshe, ⁵³ “The land is to be parceled out among these as a possession to be inherited, according to the number of names. ⁵⁴ To those families with more persons you are to give a greater inheritance, and to those with fewer you are to give a smaller inheritance — each family’s inheritance is to be given according to the number counted in it. ⁵⁵ However, the land is to be awarded by lot. They will inherit according to the names of the tribes of their ancestors, ⁵⁶ but the inheritance is to be parceled out by lot between the families with more and those with fewer.”

⁵⁷ Those counted among the Levi, by their families, were: of Gershon, the family of the Gershuni, of K’hat, the family of the K’hati; and of M’rari, the family of the M’rari. ⁵⁸ These are the families of Levi: the family of the Livni, the family of the Hevroni, the family of the Machli, the family of the Mushi and the family of the Korchi. K’hat was the father of ‘Amram. ⁵⁹ The name of ‘Amram’s wife was Yokheved the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and she bore to ‘Amram Aharon, Moshe and their sister Miryam. ⁶⁰ To Aharon were born Nadav, Avihu, El‘azar and Itamar; ⁶¹ but Nadav and Avihu died when they offered unauthorized fire before Adonai. ⁶² Those males one month old or more counted of the Levi were 23,000. These were not included in the census of the people of Isra’el, because no land for inheritance was given to them among the people of Isra’el.

⁶³ These are the ones counted by Moshe and El‘azar the cohen, who took a census of the people of Isra’el in the plains of Mo’av by the Yarden across from Yericho. ⁶⁴ But there was not a man among them who had also been included in the census of Moshe and Aharon the cohen when they enumerated the people of Isra’el in the Sinai Desert; ⁶⁵ because Adonai had said of them, “They will surely die in the desert.” So there was not left even one of them, except Kalev the son of Y’funeh and Y’hoshua the son of Nun.

27 Then the daughters of Tz’lof’chad the son of Hefer, the son of Gil‘ad, the son of Machir, the son of M’nasheh, of the families of M’nasheh, the son of Yosef, approached. These were the names of his daughters: Machlah, No‘ah, Hoglah, Milkah and Tirtzah. ² They stood in front of Moshe, El‘azar the cohen, the leaders and the whole community at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said, ³ “Our father died in the desert. He wasn’t part of the group who assembled themselves to rebel against Adonai in Korach’s group, but he died in his own sin, and he had no sons. ⁴ Why should the name of our father be eliminated from his family just because he didn’t have a son? Give us property to possess along with the brothers of our father.” ⁵ Moshe brought their cause before Adonai.

(iv) ⁶ Adonai answered Moshe, ⁷ “The daughters of Tz’lof’chad are right in what they say. You must give them property to be inherited along with that of their father’s brothers; have what their father would have inherited pass to them. ⁸ Moreover, say to the people of Isra’el, ‘If a man dies and does not have a son, you are to have his inheritance pass to his daughter. ⁹ If he doesn’t have a daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers. ¹⁰ If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. ¹¹ If his father doesn’t have brothers, give his inheritance to the closest relative in his family, and he will possess it. This will be the standard for judgment to be used by the people of Isra’el, as Adonai ordered Moshe.’”

¹² Adonai said to Moshe, “Climb this mountain in the ‘Avarim Range, and look out at the land which I have given the people of Isra’el. ¹³ After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, just as Aharon your brother was gathered; ¹⁴ because in the Tzin Desert, when the community was disputing with me, you rebelled against my order to uphold my holiness by means of the water, with them looking on.” (This was M’rivat-Kadesh Spring, in the Tzin Desert.)

¹⁵ Moshe said to Adonai, ¹⁶ “Let Adonai, God of the spirits of all human beings, appoint a man to be over the community, ¹⁷ to go out and come in ahead of them, to lead them out and bring them in, so that Adonai’s community will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

¹⁸ Adonai said to Moshe, “Take Y’hoshua the son of Nun, a spiritual man, and lay your hand on him. ¹⁹ Put him in front of El‘azar the cohen and the whole community, and commission him in their sight. ²⁰ Delegate to him some of your authority, so that the entire community of Isra’el will obey him. ²¹ He is to present himself to El‘azar the cohen, who is to find out by means of the urim what Adonai’s will is for Y’hoshua’s decisions. Then, at his word they will go out, and at his word they will come in, both he and all the people of Isra’el with him, the whole community.”

²² Moshe did as Adonai had ordered him. He took Y’hoshua, put him before El‘azar the cohen and the whole community, ²³ laid his hands on him, and commissioned him, as Adonai had said through Moshe.