26:1 VA YEHI ACHAREY HA MAGEPHAH VA YOMER YHVH EL MOSHEH VE EL EL-AZAR BEN AHARON HA KOHEN
וַיְהִי אַחֲרֵי הַמַּגֵּפָה (פ) וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה וְאֶל אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן לֵאמֹר
KJ (King James translation): And it came to pass after the plague, that the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying,
BN (BibleNet translation): And it came to pass after the plague, {P} that YHVH spoke to Mosheh and to El-Azar ben Aharon the Kohen, saying:
Odd to have a pey break in mid-sentence like this. Pey breaks generally indicate the end of a pareshah (click here), but sometimes they are simply a continuation marker when the text reaches the foot of the parchment, and carries on to the next strip; as we must assume was the case here.
26:2 SE'U ET ROSH KOL ADAT BENEY YISRA-EL MI BEN ESRIM SHANAH VA MA'LAH LE VEIT AVOTAM KOL YOTS'E TSAVA BE YISRA-EL
שְׂאוּ אֶת רֹאשׁ כָּל עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מִבֶּן עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וָמַעְלָה לְבֵית אֲבֹתָם כָּל יֹצֵא צָבָא בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל
KJ: Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, throughout their fathers' house, all that are able to go to war in Israel.
BN: "Conduct a census of the entire congregation of the Beney Yisra-El, from twenty years old and upward, by their clans, all who are eligible for conscription in Yisra-El."
The purpose is the same as in the opening chapter of Numbers, but the wording is slightly different - click here and look at verses 1-3 especially.
Why a second census? The traditional view among the scholars is that the first census was taken once the tribes were clear of Egypt and were ready to put in place all that was needed, political, social, religious and military, for the next stage of their epic journey, and that this one took place in the fortieth year of that journey, as Mosheh prepared to hand over to Yehoshu'a, and planning was needed for the "conquest" of Kena'an.
However, there are around 600,000 fighting men, and they lost 24,000 in total in the plague (Numbers 25:9), unstated how many of them fighting men; so the impact on the army is negligible, and the formal structures do not require reform. The answer starts in verse 5: it isn't really a census at all, it's an opportunity to establish the tribal leadership by clans and ranks, and then to catalogue the names. But they did that as well in Numbers 1 - so is this because they just went and stupidly hanged all the tribal leaders?
Or are we in fact reading Numbers 1ff for a second time, in a second version, and the forty year gap a convenience of the story-teller?
26:3 VA YEDABER MOSHEH VE EL-AZAR HA KOHEN OTAM VA ARVOT MO-AV AL YARDEN YERECHO LEMOR
וַיְדַבֵּר מֹשֶׁה וְאֶלְעָזָר הַכֹּהֵן אֹתָם בְּעַרְבֹת מוֹאָב עַל יַרְדֵּן יְרֵחוֹ לֵאמֹר
KJ: And Moses and Eleazar the priest spake with them in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying,
BN: And Mosheh and El-Azar the Kohen spoke with them in the plains of Mo-Av by the Yarden at Yerecho, saying:
YERECHO again, rather than Yericho: See my note to Numbers 22:1.
26:4 MI BEN ESRIM SHANAH VA MA'LAH KA ASHER TSIVAH YHVH ET MOSHEH U VENEY YISRA-EL HA YOTSIM ME ERETS MITSRAYIM
KJ: Take the sum of the people, from twenty years old and upward; as the LORD commanded Moses and the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt.
BN: "From twenty years old and upward, as YHVH instructed Mosheh and the Beney Yisra-El who came out of the land of Mitsrayim."
מִבֶּן עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וָמָעְלָה כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה אֶת מֹשֶׁה וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הַיֹּצְאִים מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם
KJ: Take the sum of the people, from twenty years old and upward; as the LORD commanded Moses and the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt.
BN: "From twenty years old and upward, as YHVH instructed Mosheh and the Beney Yisra-El who came out of the land of Mitsrayim."
Why the repetition of verse 2 in verse 4? And isn't the phrasing decidedly odd on this occasion? First, the opening phrase is missing - KJ has reinstated it, but it isn't there in the original. Second, that Mosheh would refer to himself by name? "As YHVH instructed us" perhaps - or else this must be El-Azar speaking, and not Mosheh at all.
26:5 RE'U-VEN BECHOR YISRA-EL BENEY RE'U-VEN CHANOCH MISHPACHAT HA CHANOCHI LE PHALU MISHPACHAT HA PALU'I
KJ: Reuben, the eldest son of Israel: the children of Reuben; Hanoch, of whom cometh the family of the Hanochites: of Pallu, the family of the Palluites:
BN: Re'u-Ven, the first-born of Yisra-El: the Beney Re'u-Ven: of Chanoch, the clan of the Chanochi; of Palu, the clan of the Palu'i.
The tribal lists are very rarely in the same order; for a comparative table, click here.
RE'U-VEN: See the link.
26:5 RE'U-VEN BECHOR YISRA-EL BENEY RE'U-VEN CHANOCH MISHPACHAT HA CHANOCHI LE PHALU MISHPACHAT HA PALU'I
רְאוּבֵן בְּכוֹר יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּנֵי רְאוּבֵן חֲנוֹךְ מִשְׁפַּחַת הַחֲנֹכִי לְפַלּוּא מִשְׁפַּחַת הַפַּלֻּאִי
KJ: Reuben, the eldest son of Israel: the children of Reuben; Hanoch, of whom cometh the family of the Hanochites: of Pallu, the family of the Palluites:
BN: Re'u-Ven, the first-born of Yisra-El: the Beney Re'u-Ven: of Chanoch, the clan of the Chanochi; of Palu, the clan of the Palu'i.
The tribal lists are very rarely in the same order; for a comparative table, click here.
RE'U-VEN: See the link.
CHANOCH: See the link.
PALU: See the link.
MISHPACHAT: I believe we should read MISHPACHAH as "clan" rather than "family". However, there is also "father's houses" which I also translate as clan - is there then a middle tier, either between the nuclear family and the clan, or between the clan and the tribe?
26:6 LE CHETSRON MISHPACHAT HA CHETSRONI LE CHARMI MISHPACHAT HA KARMI
KJ: Of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites: of Carmi, the family of the Carmites.
BN: Of Chetsron, the clan of the Chetsroni; of Karmi, the clan of the Karmi.
26:6 LE CHETSRON MISHPACHAT HA CHETSRONI LE CHARMI MISHPACHAT HA KARMI
לְחֶצְרֹן מִשְׁפַּחַת הַחֶצְרוֹנִי לְכַרְמִי מִשְׁפַּחַת הַכַּרְמִי
KJ: Of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites: of Carmi, the family of the Carmites.
BN: Of Chetsron, the clan of the Chetsroni; of Karmi, the clan of the Karmi.
CHETSRON: See the link.
KARMI: See the link.
26:7 ELEH MISHPECHOT HA RE'U-VENI VA YEHI'U PHEKUDEYHEM SHELOSHAH VE ARBA'IM ELEPH U SHEVA ME'OT U SHELOSHIM
אֵלֶּה מִשְׁפְּחֹת הָראוּבֵנִי וַיִּהְיוּ פְקֻדֵיהֶם שְׁלֹשָׁה וְאַרְבָּעִים אֶלֶף וּשְׁבַע מֵאוֹת וּשְׁלֹשִׁים
KJ: These are the families of the Reubenites: and they that were numbered of them were forty and three thousand and seven hundred and thirty.
BN: These are the clans of the Beney Re'u-Ven; the total number of them came to forty-three thousand, seven hundred and thirty.
We need to compare these numbers with the previous census (here, and throughout this chapter): forty-six thousand, five hundred for Re'u-Ven, in Numbers 1:21.
26:8 U VENEY PALU ELI-AV
וּבְנֵי פַלּוּא אֱלִיאָב
KJ: And the sons of Pallu; Eliab.
BN: And the Beney Palu: Eli-Av.
Sons, plural; yet only one son is actually named; because this is the clan title, not the name of an individual and his children.
26:9 U VENEY ELI-AV NEMU-EL VE DATAN VA AVI-RAM HU DATAN VA AVI-RAM KERI'EY HA EDAH ASHER HITSU AL MOSHEH VE AL AHARON BA ADAT KORACH
וּבְנֵי אֱלִיאָב נְמוּאֵל וְדָתָן וַאֲבִירָם הוּא דָתָן וַאֲבִירָם קרואי (קְרִיאֵי) הָעֵדָה אֲשֶׁר הִצּוּ עַל מֹשֶׁה וְעַל אַהֲרֹן בַּעֲדַת קֹרַח בְּהַצֹּתָם עַל יְהוָה
KJ: And the sons of Eliab; Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. This is that Dathan and Abiram, which were famous in the congregation, who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove against the LORD:
BN: And the Beney Eli-Av: Nemu-El, and Datan, and Avi-Ram. These are the same Datan and Avi-Ram, the elect of the congregation, who strove against Mosheh and Aharon in the company of Korach, when they strove against YHVH.
Which is a problem; we are counting the numbers now, the ones who survived the plague, at this precise moment of history defined by the chronology of The Book of Numbers. Datan and Avi-Ram died in the earthquake several chapters ago (Numbers 16); yet here they are now, alive and well, being counted and given rank. Or maybe they didn't die? Should we go back and check? No - simply read the next two verses, and then, remember, that they left behind children, who became clans in their own right.
Their deaths are also remembered in Psalm 106:16-18.
26:10 VA TIPHTACH HA ARETS ET PIYHA VA TIVLA OTAM VE ET KORACH BE MOT HA EDAH BA ACHOL HA ESH ET CHAMISHIM U MATAYIM ISH VA YIHEYU LE NES
וַתִּפְתַּח הָאָרֶץ אֶת פִּיהָ וַתִּבְלַע אֹתָם וְאֶת קֹרַח בְּמוֹת הָעֵדָה בַּאֲכֹל הָאֵשׁ אֵת חֲמִשִּׁים וּמָאתַיִם אִישׁ וַיִּהְיוּ לְנֵס
KJ: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and they became a sign.
BN: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korach, when that company died; at which time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men, and they became a sign.
NES: Usually regarded as meaning "miracle" rather than mere "sign". But we have seen the variant recently - see my notes at Numbers 21:8.
26:11 U VENEY KORACH LO METU
וּבְנֵי קֹרַח לֹא מֵתוּ
KJ: Notwithstanding the children of Korah died not.
BN: However the Beney Korach did not die.
No indeed, they lived on as the Temple choristers - I wonder how they would have felt, when it came to singing Psalm 106?
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26:12 BENEY SHIM'ON LE MISHPECHOTAM LI NEMU-EL MISHPACHAT HA NEMU-ELI LE YAMIN MISHPACHAT HA YAMINI LE YACHIN MISHPACHAT HA YACHINI
KJ: The sons of Simeon after their families: of Nemuel, the family of the Nemuelites: of Jamin, the family of the Jaminites: of Jachin, the family of the Jachinites:
BN: The Beney Shim'on according to their clans: of Nemu-El, the clan of the Nemu-Eli; of Yamin, the clan of the Yamini; of Yachin, the clan of the Yachini.
SHIM'ON: See the link.
26:12 BENEY SHIM'ON LE MISHPECHOTAM LI NEMU-EL MISHPACHAT HA NEMU-ELI LE YAMIN MISHPACHAT HA YAMINI LE YACHIN MISHPACHAT HA YACHINI
בְּנֵי שִׁמְעוֹן לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לִנְמוּאֵל מִשְׁפַּחַת הַנְּמוּאֵלִי לְיָמִין מִשְׁפַּחַת הַיָּמִינִי לְיָכִין מִשְׁפַּחַת הַיָּכִינִי
KJ: The sons of Simeon after their families: of Nemuel, the family of the Nemuelites: of Jamin, the family of the Jaminites: of Jachin, the family of the Jachinites:
BN: The Beney Shim'on according to their clans: of Nemu-El, the clan of the Nemu-Eli; of Yamin, the clan of the Yamini; of Yachin, the clan of the Yachini.
SHIM'ON: See the link.
NEMU-EL: The third son of Eli-Av was also named Nemu-El; he was the one who did not join Korach and can therefore be presumed to be definitely still alive. Is all the Datan and Avi-Ram stuff there to help us distinguish Eli-Av's Nemu-El, who does not get a clan named after him, from Shim'on's Nemu-El in this verse, who does? Going through all the list, can we identify a generational paradigm for defining clans?
YAMINI: It is comforting to me to find that a clan named the Yamini has its place in the text, albeit as a Shim'onite clan; it gives credence to my theory about the origins of Bin-Yamin (Benjamin); indeed, especially because it is a tribe of the Beney Shim'on, because of that tribe's geographical location, right next to the Bene Jamun (Beney Bin-Yamin).
YACHIN: who will later partner Bo'az as one of the guardian pillars of the Temple - the Keruvim even?
26:13 LE ZERACH MISHPACHAT HA ZARCHI LA SHA'UL MISHPACHAT HA SHA'ULI
לְזֶרַח מִשְׁפַּחַת הַזַּרְחִי לְשָׁאוּל מִשְׁפַּחַת הַשָּׁאוּלִי
BN: Of Zerach, the clan of the Zerachi; of Shaul, the clan of the Sha'uli.
Remember Zerach the twin-brother of Parets, who came out first, and had a scarlet thread put on his wrist or was it ankle, but then found himself supplanted... but this must be a different Zerach, as that one was a son of Yehudah... and then see verse 20.
26:14 ELEH MISHPECHOT HA SHIM'ONI SHENAYIM VE ESRIM ELEPH U MATAYIM
אֵלֶּה מִשְׁפְּחֹת הַשִּׁמְעֹנִי שְׁנַיִם וְעֶשְׂרִים אֶלֶף וּמָאתָיִם
KJ: These are the families of the Simeonites, twenty and two thousand and two hundred.
BN: These are the clans of the Shim'oni, twenty-two thousand, two hundred.
Fifty-nine thousand, three hundred, in Numbers 1:23, so this tribe at least has been devastated - and not exclusively by the plague, because only 24,000 in total were lost then (see verse 2), but Shim'on is down by well over thirty thousand on his own.
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26:15 BENEY GAD LE MISHPECHOTAM LI TSEPHON MISHPACHAT HA TSEPHONI LE CHAGI MISHPACHAT HA CHAGI LE SHUNI MISHPACHAT HA SHUNI
KJ: The children of Gad after their families: of Zephon, the family of the Zephonites: of Haggi, the family of the Haggites: of Shuni, the family of the Shunites:
BN: The Beney Gad according to their clans: of Tsephon, the clan of the Tsephoni; of Chagi, the clan of the Chagi; of Shuni, the clan of the Shuni.
The order of the tribes is thus far the same as at the first census; which I mention only because that is also the birth-order, but Gad was not the third-born. However, in the organisation of the tribes around the Mishkan, Gad was tripled with Re'u-Ven and Shim'on, so it looks like the census is following that pattern - see Numbers 2 for the details, 2:16 for a diagram.
samech break
26:15 BENEY GAD LE MISHPECHOTAM LI TSEPHON MISHPACHAT HA TSEPHONI LE CHAGI MISHPACHAT HA CHAGI LE SHUNI MISHPACHAT HA SHUNI
בְּנֵי גָד לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לִצְפוֹן מִשְׁפַּחַת הַצְּפוֹנִי לְחַגִּי מִשְׁפַּחַת הַחַגִּי לְשׁוּנִי מִשְׁפַּחַת הַשּׁוּנִי
BN: The Beney Gad according to their clans: of Tsephon, the clan of the Tsephoni; of Chagi, the clan of the Chagi; of Shuni, the clan of the Shuni.
The order of the tribes is thus far the same as at the first census; which I mention only because that is also the birth-order, but Gad was not the third-born. However, in the organisation of the tribes around the Mishkan, Gad was tripled with Re'u-Ven and Shim'on, so it looks like the census is following that pattern - see Numbers 2 for the details, 2:16 for a diagram.
GAD: See the link.
TSEPHON: Previously (Genesis 46:16) named as Tsiphyon - see the link.
CHAGI: See the link.
SHUNI: See the link.
26:16 LE AZNI MISHPACHAT HA AZNI LE ERI MISHPACHAT HA ERI
לְאָזְנִי מִשְׁפַּחַת הָאָזְנִי לְעֵרִי מִשְׁפַּחַת הָעֵרִי
KJ: Of Ozni, the family of the Oznites: of Eri, the family of the Erites:
BN: Of Azni, the clan of the Azni; of Eri, the clan of the Eri.
My aspiration to work out the clan structure generationally is now obstacled, because the tribal list at Genesis 46:16 names Gad's sons as "Tsiphyon and Chagi, Shuni and Etsvon, Eri and Arodi, and Areli"; but Etsvon does not appear in the list here, being replaced by Azni. Which list is correct?
AZNI: About whom nothing is known, and this his only appearance in the text. The root is OZEN, which means "ears", though twin-peaked hills and mountains (eg the summits of Mount Tavor in Joshua 19:34) are called AZNOT or AZNIYOT, and there is a man named Azan-Yah in Nehemiah 10:10.
ERI: See the link.
26:17 LE AROD MISHPACHAT HA ARODI LE ARELI MISHPACHAT ARELI
לַאֲרוֹד מִשְׁפַּחַת הָאֲרוֹדִי לְאַרְאֵלִי מִשְׁפַּחַת הָאַרְאֵלִי
KJ: Of Arod, the family of the Arodites: of Areli, the family of the Arelites.
BN: Of Arod, the clan of the Arodi; of Areli, the clan of the Areli.
AROD: See the link.
ARELI: See the link.
Several of these names seem odd to me. I can imagine calling my child Frank, but not Frenchman, Scott but not Scotsman. I think the clue lies in Areli, which was probably Ar-El and became Ar-Eli as a clan-name. Can we reconfigure some of the other names in the same manner?
26:18 ELEH MISHPECHOT BENEY GAD LI PHEKUDEYHEM ARBA'IM ELEPH VA CHAMESH ME'OT
אֵלֶּה מִשְׁפְּחֹת בְּנֵי גָד לִפְקֻדֵיהֶם אַרְבָּעִים אֶלֶף וַחֲמֵשׁ מֵאוֹת
KJ: These are the families of the children of Gad according to those that were numbered of them, forty thousand and five hundred.
BN: These are the clans of the Beney Gad; the total number of them came to forty thousand, five hundred.
Forty-five thousand, six hundred and fifty, in Numbers 1:25.
samech break
26:19 BENEY YEHUDAH ER VE ONAN VA YAMAT ER VE ONAN BE ERETS KENA'AN
KJ: The sons of Judah were Er and Onan: and Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.
BN: The Beney Yehudah: Er and Onan; but Er and Onan died in the land of Kena'an.
בְּנֵי יְהוּדָה עֵר וְאוֹנָן וַיָּמָת עֵר וְאוֹנָן בְּאֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן
KJ: The sons of Judah were Er and Onan: and Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.
BN: The Beney Yehudah: Er and Onan; but Er and Onan died in the land of Kena'an.
Fully four hundred years ago, if the time-periods gien at the beginning of Exodus are to be credited. Yet the names being given here are at most grandchildren. Have the clan-names then become something like an equivalent to our surnames?
YEHUDAH: See the link.
ER: See the link.
ONAN: See the link.
26:20 VA YIHEYU VENEY YEHUDAH LE MISHPECHOTAM LE SHELACH MISHPACHAT HA SHELANI LE PHERETS MISHPACHAT HA PARTSI LE ZERACH MISHPACHAT HA ZARCHI
וַיִּהְיוּ בְנֵי יְהוּדָה לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לְשֵׁלָה מִשְׁפַּחַת הַשֵּׁלָנִי לְפֶרֶץ מִשְׁפַּחַת הַפַּרְצִי לְזֶרַח מִשְׁפַּחַת הַזַּרְחִי
KJ: And the sons of Judah after their families were; of Shelah, the family of the Shelanites: of Pharez, the family of the Pharzites: of Zerah, the family of the Zarhites.
BN: And the Beney Yehudah according to their clans were: of Shelah, the clan of the Shelanites; of Perets, the clan of the Partsi; of Zerach, the clan of the Zerachi.
SHELAH: See the link.
SHELANI: That does not accord with the normal manner of creating clan-names. HA SHELAHI is what we would expect.
PERETS: PEREZ in most English versions, but his name was Perets, or sometimes Parets, which here becomes Pherets because the prefix forces a dropped dagesh;
ZERACH: see my note to verse 13 above.
26:21 VA YIHEYU VENEY PHERETS LE CHETSRON MISHPACHAT HA CHETSRONI LE CHAMUL MISHPACHAT HE CHAMULI
KJ: And the sons of Pharez were; of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites: of Hamul, the family of the Hamulites.
BN: And the Beney Perets were: of Chetsron, the clan of the Chetsroni; of Chamul, the clan of the Chamuli.
We already have a CHETSRONI in verse 6. Can there be two clans with the same name? Why not? There are two Zerachs...
PERETS: PEREZ in most English versions, but his name was Perets, or sometimes Parets, which here becomes Pherets because the prefix forces a dropped dagesh;
ZERACH: see my note to verse 13 above.
26:21 VA YIHEYU VENEY PHERETS LE CHETSRON MISHPACHAT HA CHETSRONI LE CHAMUL MISHPACHAT HE CHAMULI
וַיִּהְיוּ בְנֵי פֶרֶץ לְחֶצְרֹן מִשְׁפַּחַת הַחֶצְרֹנִי לְחָמוּל מִשְׁפַּחַת הֶחָמוּלִי
KJ: And the sons of Pharez were; of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites: of Hamul, the family of the Hamulites.
BN: And the Beney Perets were: of Chetsron, the clan of the Chetsroni; of Chamul, the clan of the Chamuli.
We already have a CHETSRONI in verse 6. Can there be two clans with the same name? Why not? There are two Zerachs...
CHAMUL: See the link.
26:22 ELEH MISHPECHOT YEHUDAH LI PHEKUDEYHEM SHISHAH VE SHIVIM ELEPH VA CHAMESH ME'OT
KJ: These are the families of Judah according to those that were numbered of them, threescore and sixteen thousand and five hundred.
BN: These are the clans of Yehudah; the total number of them came to seventy-six thousand, five hundred.
Seventy-four thousand, six hundred in Numbers 1:27.
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26:23 BENEY YISASCHAR LE MISHPECHOTAM TOL'A MISHPACHAT HA TOL'A'I LE PHUVAH MISHPACHAT HA PUNI
26:22 ELEH MISHPECHOT YEHUDAH LI PHEKUDEYHEM SHISHAH VE SHIVIM ELEPH VA CHAMESH ME'OT
אֵלֶּה מִשְׁפְּחֹת יְהוּדָה לִפְקֻדֵיהֶם שִׁשָּׁה וְשִׁבְעִים אֶלֶף וַחֲמֵשׁ מֵאוֹת
KJ: These are the families of Judah according to those that were numbered of them, threescore and sixteen thousand and five hundred.
BN: These are the clans of Yehudah; the total number of them came to seventy-six thousand, five hundred.
Seventy-four thousand, six hundred in Numbers 1:27.
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26:23 BENEY YISASCHAR LE MISHPECHOTAM TOL'A MISHPACHAT HA TOL'A'I LE PHUVAH MISHPACHAT HA PUNI
בְּנֵי יִשָּׂשכָר לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם תּוֹלָע מִשְׁפַּחַת הַתּוֹלָעִי לְפֻוָה מִשְׁפַּחַת הַפּוּנִי
KJ: Of the sons of Issachar after their families: of Tola, the family of the Tolaites: of Pua, the family of the Punites:
BN: The Beney Yisaschar according to their clans: of Tol'a, the clan of the Tol'a'i; of Puvah, the clan of the Puni.
YISASCHAR: See the link.
Again we are out of birth-order, but in the order of the honour guard for the Mishkan - see the diagram at Numbers 2:16 - if this is indeed the pattern, Zevulun should be next (he is).
TOL'A: See the link.
PUVAH: Written as Phuvah, for the same reason that Perets became Pherets at verse 20. See the link.
PUNI: Like the SHELANI, I suspect we are trying to back-fit the names of clans to known ancestors or peoples. The Punim are well known from Homer, as in the Punic wars; Carthaginians (originally Phoenicians, whence the name Punic) who fought several wars with Rome between 264 and 146 BCE; though this is probably not them. What we have here is the generic, in the way that we might talk about Caucasians today, without their having been anywhere near the Caucasus for billennia.
But anyway it is not the name that would be given to the Beney Puvah: Puva'i perhaps.
26:24 LE YASHUV MISHPACHAT HA YASHUVI LE SHIMRON MISHPACHAT HA SHIMRONI
KJ: Of Jashub, the family of the Jashubites: of Shimron, the family of the Shimronites.
BN: Of Yashuv, the clan of the Yashuvi; of Shimron, the clan of the Shimroni.
YASHUV: Genesis 46:13 names the third son as Yov, not Yashuv, and the name Yashuv does not recur.
SHIMRONI: pure coincidence that this is so close to the SHOMRONI? Shomron is a much later geographical concept. See the link.
26:25 ELEH MISHPECHOT YISASCHAR LI PHEKUDEYHEM ARBA'IM VE SHISHIM ELEPH U SHELOSH ME'OT
KJ: These are the families of Issachar according to those that were numbered of them, threescore and four thousand and three hundred.
BN: These are the clans of Yisaschar; the total number of them came to sixty-four thousand, three hundred.
Fifty-four thousand, four hundred, in Numbers 1:29.
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26:26 BENEY ZEVULUN LE MISHPECHOTAM LE SERED MISHPACHAT HA SARDI LE ELON MISHPACHAT HA ELONI LE YACHLE-EL MISHPACHAT HA YACHLE-ELI
26:24 LE YASHUV MISHPACHAT HA YASHUVI LE SHIMRON MISHPACHAT HA SHIMRONI
לְיָשׁוּב מִשְׁפַּחַת הַיָּשֻׁבִי לְשִׁמְרֹן מִשְׁפַּחַת הַשִּׁמְרֹנִי
KJ: Of Jashub, the family of the Jashubites: of Shimron, the family of the Shimronites.
BN: Of Yashuv, the clan of the Yashuvi; of Shimron, the clan of the Shimroni.
YASHUV: Genesis 46:13 names the third son as Yov, not Yashuv, and the name Yashuv does not recur.
SHIMRONI: pure coincidence that this is so close to the SHOMRONI? Shomron is a much later geographical concept. See the link.
26:25 ELEH MISHPECHOT YISASCHAR LI PHEKUDEYHEM ARBA'IM VE SHISHIM ELEPH U SHELOSH ME'OT
אֵלֶּה מִשְׁפְּחֹת יִשָּׂשכָר לִפְקֻדֵיהֶם אַרְבָּעָה וְשִׁשִּׁים אֶלֶף וּשְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת
KJ: These are the families of Issachar according to those that were numbered of them, threescore and four thousand and three hundred.
BN: These are the clans of Yisaschar; the total number of them came to sixty-four thousand, three hundred.
Fifty-four thousand, four hundred, in Numbers 1:29.
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26:26 BENEY ZEVULUN LE MISHPECHOTAM LE SERED MISHPACHAT HA SARDI LE ELON MISHPACHAT HA ELONI LE YACHLE-EL MISHPACHAT HA YACHLE-ELI
בְּנֵי זְבוּלֻן לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לְסֶרֶד מִשְׁפַּחַת הַסַּרְדִּי לְאֵלוֹן מִשְׁפַּחַת הָאֵלֹנִי לְיַחְלְאֵל מִשְׁפַּחַת הַיַּחְלְאֵלִי
KJ: Of the sons of Zebulun after their families: of Sered, the family of the Sardites: of Elon, the family of the Elonites: of Jahleel, the family of the Jahleelites.
BN: The Beney Zevulun according to their clans: of Sered, the clan of the Sardi; of Elon, the clan of the Eloni; of Yachle-El, the clan of the Yachle-Eli.
ZEVULUN: See the link.
SERED: See the link.
ELON: See the link.
YACHLE-EL: See the link.
26:27 ELEH MISHPECHOT HA ZEVULUNI LI PHEKUDEYHEM SHISHIM ELEPH VA CHAMESH ME'OT
אֵלֶּה מִשְׁפְּחֹת הַזְּבוּלֹנִי לִפְקֻדֵיהֶם שִׁשִּׁים אֶלֶף וַחֲמֵשׁ מֵאוֹת
KJ: These are the families of the Zebulunites according to those that were numbered of them, threescore thousand and five hundred.
BN: These are the clans of the Zevuluni; the total number of them came to sixty thousand, five hundred.
Fifty-seven thousand, four hundred, in Numbers 1:31.
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26:28 BENEY YOSEPH LE MISHPECHOTAM MENASHEH VE EPHRAYIM
בְּנֵי יוֹסֵף לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם מְנַשֶּׁה וְאֶפְרָיִם
KJ: The sons of Joseph after their families were Manasseh and Ephraim.
BN: The Beney Yoseph according to their clans: Menasheh and Ephrayim.
Look again at the diagram at Numbers 2:16, where we saw that the first three in this list were the southern flank of the guard for the Mishkan, and the second threesome were its eastern flank. The next three are its western, and the final three its northern, confirming that this list is not a census at all, but a conscription-count.
BENEY YOSEPH: Yoseph having become a fully-fledged Egyptian, with an Egyptian wife, Asnat, who was the daughter of the High Priest of On (and this is just the orthodox Jewish reading, before we even get to the Hyksos probabilities!), is dis-eligible-ated from having a tribe named after him. Fortunately Ya'akov formally adopted his sons, albeit in reverse birth-order, in Genesis 48, and so they are eligible to become tribes (and this way there can be twelve, which is necessary, because the tribal organisation needs to reflect the organisation of the cosmos, where the stars are grouped in twelve constellations: the same reason that Arthur had twelve knights at his round table, Jesus twelve disciples at his rectangular one, Robin Hood twelve merry men, and the Greek amphictyony twelve allied cities.)
MENASHEH: See the link.
EPHRAYIM: See the link.
26:29 BENEY MENASHEH LE MACHIR MISHPACHAT HA MACHIRI U MACHIR HOLID ET GIL'AD LE GIL'AD MISHPACHAT HA GIL'ADI
KJ: Of the sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the family of the Machirites: and Machir begat Gilead: of Gilead come the family of the Gileadites.
BN: The Beney Menasheh: of Machir, the clan of the Machiri - and Machir begat Gil'ad; of Gil'ad, the clan of the Gil'adi.
MACHIR: See the link.
בְּנֵי מְנַשֶּׁה לְמָכִיר מִשְׁפַּחַת הַמָּכִירִי וּמָכִיר הוֹלִיד אֶת גִּלְעָד לְגִלְעָד מִשְׁפַּחַת הַגִּלְעָדִי
KJ: Of the sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the family of the Machirites: and Machir begat Gilead: of Gilead come the family of the Gileadites.
BN: The Beney Menasheh: of Machir, the clan of the Machiri - and Machir begat Gil'ad; of Gil'ad, the clan of the Gil'adi.
MACHIR: See the link.
GIL'AD: once again we have a problem with the names: issues of historical chronology as much as genealogical connection. The Beney Gil'ad were the inhabitants of Mount Gil'ad, and were in fact conquered and replaced as a non-Yisra-Eli tribe at the time of Yehoshu'a. So are these in fact Yisra-Eli tribes and clans at all, or is there simply an attempt to define a Yisra-Eli national identity by providing, however artifically, all the known tribes with pseudo-Yisra-Eli backgrounds? As though Cherokee and Sioux and Iroquois were denoted as sons of Benjamin Franklin in the history of America, with Algonquin as a grandson of George Washington and Carib a grandchild of Thomas Jefferson. Or perhaps a better analogy might be to use American states, or English counties; regardless of your origins and ancestry, if you live in Virginia or Hertfordshiire you are a member of that tribe.
See 1 Chronicles 7:14 for more on this.
26:30 ELEH BENEY GIL'AD I-EZER MISHPACHAT HA I-EZRI LE CHALEK MISHPACHAT HA CHELKI
26:30 ELEH BENEY GIL'AD I-EZER MISHPACHAT HA I-EZRI LE CHALEK MISHPACHAT HA CHELKI
אֵלֶּה בְּנֵי גִלְעָד אִיעֶזֶר מִשְׁפַּחַת הָאִיעֶזְרִי לְחֵלֶק מִשְׁפַּחַת הַחֶלְקִי
KJ: These are the sons of Gilead: of Jeezer, the family of the Jeezerites: of Helek, the family of the Helekites:
BN: These are the Beney Gil'ad: of I-Ezer, the clan of the I-Ezri; of Chelek, the clan of the Chelki.
I-EZER: Nobody names their child I-EZER (and definitely not Jeezer!); "without help" or simply "helpless". Should it be Yazer, from the same root that gives Ezra, and his grandfather Azar-Yah, and that initial Aleph simply an Aramaic addition?
CHELKI: and given the number of times that we are told about the tribal "portions", especially in the Book of Joshua, the notion of a clan named "portion" is likewise improbable. Ah, but isn't it so much easier to accept the divine writing of these books, when you receive them in carefully sanitised translations! No wonder the Franciscans locked up Roger Bacon for daring to study them in Hebrew and Aramaic!
26:31 VE ASRI-EL MISHPACHAT HA ASRI-ELI VE SHECHEM MISHPACHAT HA SHICHMI
וְאַשְׂרִיאֵל מִשְׁפַּחַת הָאַשְׂרִאֵלִי וְשֶׁכֶם מִשְׁפַּחַת הַשִּׁכְמִי
KJ: And of Asriel, the family of the Asrielites: and of Shechem, the family of the Shechemites:
BN: And of Asri-El, the clan of the Asri-Eli; and of Shechem, the clan of the Shichmi;
ASRI-EL: As with Gil'ad, so with both of these. Asri-El has never been mentioned before, and won't be again, so there is little to be said about him, except that his name reflects the Kena'ani not the Yisra-Eli polytheon: El, rather than Yah.
SHECHEM: The name belongs to the town, which Levi and Shim'on obliterated in Genesis 34, and to the prince of that town, who wanted to marry their sister Dinah, and may or may not have raped her. Either way, for Menasheh to have named one of his sons Shechem, would be equivalent to a contemporary Jew naming his son Adolf, and I wouldn't like to have been standing next to Shim'on or Levi at the bris. My conclusion to the note on Gil'ad likewise applies here, and dates the text to some time after Yehoshu'a.
26:32 U SHEMIYD'A MISHPACHAT HA SHEMIYD'A'I VE CHEPHER MISHPACHAT HA CHEPHRI
וּשְׁמִידָע מִשְׁפַּחַת הַשְּׁמִידָעִי וְחֵפֶר מִשְׁפַּחַת הַחֶפְרִי
KJ: And of Shemida, the family of the Shemidaites: and of Hepher, the family of the Hepherites.
BN: And of Shemiyd'a, the clan of the Shemiyd'a'i; and of Chepher, the clan of the Chephri.
SHEMIYD'A: Another name to send us rushing for our etymological dictionaries. Possible an elipsis of SHEM and YODE'A, "one who knows the deity" - but SHEM as a way of avoiding pronouncing the name of the deity does not enter the Jewish world until at least Hasmonean times, and probably at their end, not their beginning.
Another option might be the root SHAMAD, "destruction", adding yet another ruin to our list that began with HA AI and has now reached... five at least; see Numbers 21:3 for example. But this doesn't work either, because that Ayin is not part of the root, nor is it a grammatical addition.
For other mentions of the clan, click here.
CHEPHER: See the link.
26:33 U TSELAPHCHAD BEN CHEPHER LO HAYU LO BANIM KI IM BANOT VE SHEM BENOT TSALAPHCHAD MACHLAH VE NO'AH CHAGLAH MILKAH VE TIRTSAH
וּצְלָפְחָד בֶּן חֵפֶר לֹא הָיוּ לוֹ בָּנִים כִּי אִם בָּנוֹת וְשֵׁם בְּנוֹת צְלָפְחָד מַחְלָה וְנֹעָה חָגְלָה מִלְכָּה וְתִרְצָה
KJ: And Zelophehad the son of Hepher had no sons, but daughters: and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
BN: And Tselaphchad ben Chepher had no sons, but only daughters; and the names of the daughters of Tselaphchad were Machlah, and No'ah, Chaglah, Milkah and Tirtsah.
TSELAPHCHAD: Why is this even mentioned? The answer is: a prefiguring of a story that will be told in the next chapter, untold in chapter 27, and returned to in Joshua 17:3, each time with a different outcome. As to the name, yet another that clearly is not Yisra-Eli, simply because there are too many letters in the root. Which root? That too is dificult to determine. A TSALAPH is a "breach" or "wound" in Syriac, though it is never used in Biblical Yehudit, other than in this name, and for a character who crops up among the wall-rebuilders in Nehemiah 3:30 - but most of these were returnees from Babylon, so we expect names from that locale.
MACHLAH: And after the "rupture", "disease", leaving me to wonder if we really have people's names at all, or mythological metaphors disguised metaphorically.
NO'AH: Not to be confused with the captain of the good ship Ark, whose name is really No'ach. Joshua 19:13 has a town named Ne'ah, from the same root, whose general sense is of "motion", usually of the shaking or trembling sort. So, perhaps, Tselaphchad describes the moment of creation, and the daughters are the manifestation of life, the metapmorphosis of essence into existence. The three daughters of al-Lah had a very similar configuration in the pre-Islamic Arab world.
CHAGLAH: Is another form of motion, forwards but stuttering, "in the manner of a crow, like a man with his feet tied" in Gesenius' explanation, though generally it is identified with the partridge, which gave its name to the ceremonial dance performed when the new king was anointed, and the immolation of his feet (Ya'akov, Oedipus - "swollen-foot - Achilles - "sacred-heel") ensured that, like the ballet dancers who performed the dance, he could only walk on tip-toe from now on, because he was the king, and could not be permitted to walk the Earth like other mortals. That ceremony is known in Yehudit as PESACH (see my notes on this at Genesis 41:46), from the verb "to limp", as Ya'akov did at Penu-El after his coronation (though in his case it was the thigh that was immolated, by castration, rather than the feet bound).
MILKAH: The Queen of Heaven herself! Then perhaps there are only three daughters, and this the mother.
TIRTSAH: Because Tirtsah isn't a person, but the name of the place where these three equivalents of the daughters of al-Lah lived alongside Tselaphchad their father and Milkah their mother - the tale reduced to pseudo-history, and then its legal precedent as the tale, to divert attention but also to allow its maintenance. We know of the town from several references, all of them in Assyriac territory, as we would have guessed from the roots of the names - see the link.
26:34 ELEH MISHPECHOT MENASHEH U PHEKUDEYHEM SHENAYIM VA CHAMISHIM ELEPH U SHEVA ME'OT
KJ: These are the families of Manasseh, and those that were numbered of them, fifty and two thousand and seven hundred.
BN: These are the clans of Menasheh; the total number of them came to fifty-two thousand, seven hundred.
Thirty-two thousand, two hundred in Numbers 1:35, and note that Menasheh has been counted here ahead of Ephrayim, where the Numbers 1 list had Ephrayim first.
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26:35 ELEH VENEY EPHRAYIM LE MISHPECHOTAM LE SHUTELACH MISHPACHAT HA SHUTALCHI LE VECHER MISHPACHAT HA BACHRI LE TACHAN MISHPACHAT HA TACHANI
KJ: These are the sons of Ephraim after their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthalhites: of Becher, the family of the Bachrites: of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites.
BN: These are the Beney Ephraim according to their clans: of Shutelach, the clan of the Shutalchi; of Becher, the clan of the Bachri; of Tachan, the clan of the Tachani.
EPHRAYIM: See the link. We have never previously been told the names of Ephrayim's sons. See also 1 Chronicles 7:21, where the sons of Ephrayim are listed, but the number of them, and their names, are different from the ones here.
26:34 ELEH MISHPECHOT MENASHEH U PHEKUDEYHEM SHENAYIM VA CHAMISHIM ELEPH U SHEVA ME'OT
אֵלֶּה מִשְׁפְּחֹת מְנַשֶּׁה וּפְקֻדֵיהֶם שְׁנַיִם וַחֲמִשִּׁים אֶלֶף וּשְׁבַע מֵאוֹת
KJ: These are the families of Manasseh, and those that were numbered of them, fifty and two thousand and seven hundred.
BN: These are the clans of Menasheh; the total number of them came to fifty-two thousand, seven hundred.
Thirty-two thousand, two hundred in Numbers 1:35, and note that Menasheh has been counted here ahead of Ephrayim, where the Numbers 1 list had Ephrayim first.
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26:35 ELEH VENEY EPHRAYIM LE MISHPECHOTAM LE SHUTELACH MISHPACHAT HA SHUTALCHI LE VECHER MISHPACHAT HA BACHRI LE TACHAN MISHPACHAT HA TACHANI
אֵלֶּה בְנֵי אֶפְרַיִם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לְשׁוּתֶלַח מִשְׁפַּחַת הַשֻּׁתַלְחִי לְבֶכֶר מִשְׁפַּחַת הַבַּכְרִי לְתַחַן מִשְׁפַּחַת הַתַּחֲנִי
KJ: These are the sons of Ephraim after their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthalhites: of Becher, the family of the Bachrites: of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites.
BN: These are the Beney Ephraim according to their clans: of Shutelach, the clan of the Shutalchi; of Becher, the clan of the Bachri; of Tachan, the clan of the Tachani.
EPHRAYIM: See the link. We have never previously been told the names of Ephrayim's sons. See also 1 Chronicles 7:21, where the sons of Ephrayim are listed, but the number of them, and their names, are different from the ones here.
SHUTELACH: Is this another non-Yisra-Eli, but also non-Egyptian name? Given the context of centuries in Egypt, we would expect the latter, especially for sons of Ephrayin, who was himself born and brought up there. There is only one possibility to deduce a Yehudit root that would give this, and that would be TALACH, which means "tearing" or "rending" - adding another Creational element to the daughters of Tselaphachad, above. But even to get to that root would require the Sheen to function as an intensifier, and the name would therefore need to be rendered as SHE'UTELACH.
BECHER: Two identical-sounding words in Yehudit, one with a Chet, the other with a Chaf, the former meaning "a young man", the latter "a young camel". Perhaps surprisingly, it is the latter here. The nickname Abu Bakr, given to Abd'al-Lah ibn Utman, the best friend and successor to Muhammad, comes from the same root.
TACHAN: The name means "camp" (a variant of Machaneh, from the same root), as in a place where wandering nomads put up their tents; and perhaps, in the Meso-American tradition, he was named after the first thing his mother saw after the child parturated. More likely it is an error for, or a diminutive of, Techinah, which is used to mean "grace" and "mercy" in Joshua 11:20 and Ezra 9:8. There is a man with that name at 1 Chronicles 4:12.
26:36 VE ELEH BENEY SHUTALACH LE ERVAN MISHPACHAT HA ERANI
וְאֵלֶּה בְּנֵי שׁוּתָלַח לְעֵרָן מִשְׁפַּחַת הָעֵרָנִי
KJ: And these are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the family of the Eranites.
BN: And these are the Beney Shutelach: of Eran, the clan of the Erani.
ERAN: Again we struggle for a meaning. Might this too be a pet-name, in the way that David becomes Dovidl in Yiddish, or Shoshanna Shoshi in modern Ivrit - and really he is Er - the name given by Yehudah to his firstborn, the one whose death started all the problems with the Levirate Law (see the link under his name for the details of this)? But it could just as easily come from IR, which means "town" or "city", and that would go well alongside TACHAN as "camp" - though not the city of Ur, which has an Aleph, where this has an Ayin. And not "light" which also has an Aleph, and not "watchful", which is Strong's reckoning (see the first link in this paragraph), for the same treason. And not a Yehudit rendering of Iran either - Persia at the time of writing this down was Peras, and anyway modern Ivrit spells Iran with two Alephs: איראן
26:37 ELEH MISHPECHOT BENEY EPHRAYIM LI PHEKUDEYHEM SHENAYIM U SHEKLOSHIM ELEPH VA CHAMESH ME'OT ELEH VENEY YOSEPH LE MISHPECHOTAM
אֵלֶּה מִשְׁפְּחֹת בְּנֵי אֶפְרַיִם לִפְקֻדֵיהֶם שְׁנַיִם וּשְׁלֹשִׁים אֶלֶף וַחֲמֵשׁ מֵאוֹת אֵלֶּה בְנֵי יוֹסֵף לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם
KJ: These are the families of the sons of Ephraim according to those that were numbered of them, thirty and two thousand and five hundred. These are the sons of Joseph after their families.
BN: These are the clans of the Beney Ephrayim; the total number of them came to thirty-two thousand, five hundred. These are the Beney Yoseph according to their clans.
Forty thousand, five hundred in Numbers 1:33.
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26:38 BENEY VIN-YAMIN LE MISHPECHOTAM LE VEL'A MISHPACHAT HA BAL'I LE ASHBEL MISHPACHAT HA ASHBELI LA ACHI-RAM MISHPACHAT HA ACHI-RAMI
בְּנֵי בִנְיָמִן לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לְבֶלַע מִשְׁפַּחַת הַבַּלְעִי לְאַשְׁבֵּל מִשְׁפַּחַת הָאַשְׁבֵּלִי לַאֲחִירָם מִשְׁפַּחַת הָאֲחִירָמִי
KJ: The sons of Benjamin after their families: of Bela, the family of the Belaites: of Ashbel, the family of the Ashbelites: of Ahiram, the family of the Ahiramites:
BN: The Beney Vin-Yamin according to their clans: of Bel'a, the clan of the Bal'i; of Ashbel, the clan of the Ashbeli; of Achi-Ram, the clan of the Achi-Rami.
BIN-YAMIN: See the link. But also note that this makes for an Egyptian triplet, Bin-Yamin named Ben-Oni by his mother, and On, the source of that name, was Heliopolis in Egypt, where Yoseph was Vizier, and Menasheh and Ephrayim were born. How curious!
BEL'A: See the link, which I have without the apostrophe in the Dictionary of Names.
BAL'I: I think that the Masoretic pointer has this one wrong, and it should be pronounced Bel'a'i.
ASHBEL: See the link.
ACHI-RAM: See the link.
26:39 LI SHEPHUPHAM MISHPACHAT HA SHUPHAMI LE CHUPHAM MISHPACHAT HA CHUPHAMI
לִשְׁפוּפָם מִשְׁפַּחַת הַשּׁוּפָמִי לְחוּפָם מִשְׁפַּחַת הַחוּפָמִי
KJ: Of Shupham, the family of the Shuphamites: of Hupham, the family of the Huphamites.
BN: Of Shephupham, the clan of the Shuphami; of Chupham, the clan of the Chuphami.
SHEPHUPHAM: Again the clan-name does not come logically from the paternal name; King James notices this and assumes an error, callng Shephupham Shupham, but really the correction should be the other way around, and in the Yehudit: Shephuphami. 1 Chronicles 8:5 agrees with this, though it uses the Aramaic plural, SHEPHUPHAN.
CHUPHAM: CHUPIM in the Genesis 46 list.
26:40 VA YIHEYU VENEY VELA ARD VE NA'AMAN MISHPACHAT HA ARDI LE NA'AMAN MISHPACHAT HA NA'AMI
KJ: And the sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: of Ard, the family of the Ardites: and of Naaman, the family of the Naamites.
BN: And the Beney Bel'a were Ard and Na'aman; [of Ard,] the clan of the Ardi; of Na'aman, the clan of the Na'ami.
ARD: See the link.
26:40 VA YIHEYU VENEY VELA ARD VE NA'AMAN MISHPACHAT HA ARDI LE NA'AMAN MISHPACHAT HA NA'AMI
וַיִּהְיוּ בְנֵי בֶלַע אַרְדְּ וְנַעֲמָן מִשְׁפַּחַת הָאַרְדִּי לְנַעֲמָן מִשְׁפַּחַת הַנַּעֲמִי
KJ: And the sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: of Ard, the family of the Ardites: and of Naaman, the family of the Naamites.
BN: And the Beney Bel'a were Ard and Na'aman; [of Ard,] the clan of the Ardi; of Na'aman, the clan of the Na'ami.
ARD: See the link.
NA'AMAN: See the link.
NA'AMI: Again the clan-name does not come logically from the name; it should be Na'amani.
26:41 ELEH VENEY VIN-YAMIN LE MISHPECHOTAM U PHEKUDEYHEM CHAMISH VE ARBA'IM ELEPH VE SHESH ME'OT
אֵלֶּה בְנֵי בִנְיָמִן לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם וּפְקֻדֵיהֶם חֲמִשָּׁה וְאַרְבָּעִים אֶלֶף וְשֵׁשׁ מֵאוֹת
KJ: These are the sons of Benjamin after their families: and they that were numbered of them were forty and five thousand and six hundred.
BN: These are the Beney Vin-Yamin according to their clans; the total number of them came to forty-five thousand, six hundred.
Thirty-five thousand, four hundred, in Numbers 1:37.
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26:42 ELEH VENEY DAN LE MISHPECHOTAM LE SHUCHAM MISHPACHAT HA SHUCHAMI ELEH MISHPECHOT DAN LE MISHPECHOTAM
אֵלֶּה בְנֵי דָן לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לְשׁוּחָם מִשְׁפַּחַת הַשּׁוּחָמִי אֵלֶּה מִשְׁפְּחֹת דָּן לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם
BN: These are the Beney Dan according to their clans: of Shucham, the clan of the Shuchami. These are the Beney Dan according to their clans.
DAN: See the link.
SHUCHAM: Never mentioned before, or after. However, see my notes to Chushim, who appears as "the sons of Dan" in Genesis 46:23. Clearly one or other text has at least one error.
Note that the verse still uses the plural, even though there is only one of them (or is there? it may be that both texts have both errors!). Presumably, like any formal spreadsheet, the phrasing is simply the "column-title".
26:43 KOL MISHPECHOT HA SHUCHAMI LI PHEKUDEYHEM ARBA'AH VE SHISHIM ELEPH VE ARBA ME'OT
כָּל מִשְׁפְּחֹת הַשּׁוּחָמִי לִפְקֻדֵיהֶם אַרְבָּעָה וְשִׁשִּׁים אֶלֶף וְאַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת
KJ: All the families of the Shuhamites, according to those that were numbered of them, were threescore and four thousand and four hundred.
BN: All the clans of the Shuchami; the total number of them came to sixty-four thousand, four hundred.
This is a huge oddity. In all the other tribes, the clans were named and then the tribal total given, by the name of the tribe. Here, only the clan of Shucham is mentioned, and its total number given, rather than the tribe of Dan - though Shucham appears to be its only clan. In Numbers 1:39 there were sixty-two thousand seven hundred Danites. Is Shucham now a replacement name for Dan? Is this connected to the disappearance of Dan from the west coast and its re-appearance in the north around La'ish?
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26:44 BENEY ASHER LE MISHPECHOTAM LE YIMNAH MISHPACHAT HA YIMNAH LE YISHVI MISHPACHAT HA YISHVI LI VERIY'AH MISHPACHAT HA BERIY'I
בְּנֵי אָשֵׁר לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לְיִמְנָה מִשְׁפַּחַת הַיִּמְנָה לְיִשְׁוִי מִשְׁפַּחַת הַיִּשְׁוִי לִבְרִיעָה מִשְׁפַּחַת הַבְּרִיעִי
KJ: Of the children of Asher after their families: of Jimna, the family of the Jimnites: of Jesui, the family of the Jesuites: of Beriah, the family of the Beriites.
BN: The Beney Asher according to their clans: of Yimnah, the clan of the Yimnah; of Yishvi, the clan of the Yishvi; of Veri'yah, the clan of the Beri'i.
ASHER: See the link
YIMNAH: of course should yield either YIMNI or YIMNATI, the latter of which would translate as Yemenites, they being the most southerly tribe of the Hejaz, south of Arabia along the Red Sea - the land that was immediately to the south of Midyan in Mosheh's time.
YISHVI: See the link.
VERIY'AH: Beri'ah really, but the grammar softens the Bet into a Vet, and the Masoretes have added an unnecessary Yud. See the link.
26:45 LIVNEY VERIY'AH LE CHEVER MISHPACHAT HA CHEVRI LE MALKI-EL MISHPACHAT HA MALKI-ELI
KJ: Of the sons of Beriah: of Heber, the family of the Heberites: of Malchiel, the family of the Malchielites.
BN: Of the Beney Veriy'ah: of Chever, the clan of the Chevri; of Malki-El, the clan of the Malki-Eli.
CHEVER: See the link.
26:45 LIVNEY VERIY'AH LE CHEVER MISHPACHAT HA CHEVRI LE MALKI-EL MISHPACHAT HA MALKI-ELI
לִבְנֵי בְרִיעָה לְחֶבֶר מִשְׁפַּחַת הַחֶבְרִי לְמַלְכִּיאֵל מִשְׁפַּחַת הַמַּלְכִּיאֵלִי
BN: Of the Beney Veriy'ah: of Chever, the clan of the Chevri; of Malki-El, the clan of the Malki-Eli.
CHEVER: See the link.
MALKI-EL: See the link.
26:46 VE SHEM BAT ASHER SARACH
וְשֵׁם בַּת אָשֵׁר שָׂרַח
KJ: And the name of the daughter of Asher was Sarah.
BN: And Asher's daughter was named Sarach.
Why are we being told this? And note that it is Sarach, not Sarah - though Sarai is given as a variant form of Sarah, so maybe Sarach is another. The name means "abundance", and also appears. as SERACH, in Genesis 46:17 and 1 Chronicles 7:30. The meaning also suggests that this may well be another variant spelling of the mother goddess: Sarai and Sarah in Genesis, Asherah among the Beney Kena'an, Ishtar in Babylon, which also appears in Genesis in variant form, as the Ashterot; and here she is the daughter of Asher, which is the masculine form of Asherah (and possibly a variant spelling of Osher, Osiris).
26:47 ELEH MISHPECHOT BENEY ASHER LI PHEKUDEYHEM SHELOSHAH VA CHAMISHIM ELEPH VE ARBA ME'OT
אֵלֶּה מִשְׁפְּחֹת בְּנֵי אָשֵׁר לִפְקֻדֵיהֶם שְׁלֹשָׁה וַחֲמִשִּׁים אֶלֶף וְאַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת
KJ: These are the families of the sons of Asher according to those that were numbered of them; who were fifty and three thousand and four hundred.
BN: These are clans of the Beney Asher; the total number of them came to fifty-three thousand, four hundred.
Forty-one thousand, five hundred in Numbers 1:41.
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26:48 BENEY NAPHTALI LE MISHPECHOTAM LE YACHTSE-EL MISHPACHAT HA YACHTSE-ELI LE GUNI MISHPACHAT HA GUNI
בְּנֵי נַפְתָּלִי לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לְיַחְצְאֵל מִשְׁפַּחַת הַיַּחְצְאֵלִי לְגוּנִי מִשְׁפַּחַת הַגּוּנִי
KJ: Of the sons of Naphtali after their families: of Jahzeel, the family of the Jahzeelites: of Guni, the family of the Gunites:
BN: The Beney Naphtali according to their clans: of Yachtse-El, the clan of the Yachtse-Eli; of Guni, the clan of the Guni.
NAPHTALI: See the link.
YACHTSE-EL: See the link.
GUNI: See the link.
26:49 LE YETSER MISHPACHAT HA YITSRI LE SHILEM MISHPACHAT HA SHILEMI
לְיֵצֶר מִשְׁפַּחַת הַיִּצְרִי לְשִׁלֵּם מִשְׁפַּחַת הַשִּׁלֵּמִי
KJ: Of Jezer, the family of the Jezerites: of Shillem, the family of the Shillemites.
BN: Of Yetser, the clan of the Yitsri; of Shilem, the clan of the Shilemi.
YETSER: See the link.
SHILEM: See the link.
26:50 ELEH MISHPECHOT NAPHTALI LE MISHPECHOTAM U PHEKUDEYHEM CHAMISHAH VE ARBA'IM ELEPH VE ARBA ME'OT
אֵלֶּה מִשְׁפְּחֹת נַפְתָּלִי לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם וּפְקֻדֵיהֶם חֲמִשָּׁה וְאַרְבָּעִים אֶלֶף וְאַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת
KJ: These are the families of Naphtali according to their families: and they that were numbered of them were forty and five thousand and four hundred.
BN: These are the clans of [the Beney] Naphtali; the total number of them came to forty-five thousand, four hundred.
Again an error, or at least a surprising variation: two MISHPECHOTs instead of one and a BENEY - clearly the ancient scribe found this list just as confusing as you and I!
Fifty-three thousand, four hundred according to Numbers 1:43.
26:51 ELEH PEKUDEY BENEY YISRA-EL SHESH ME'OT ELEPH VA ALEPH SHEVA ME'OT U SHELOSHIM
אֵלֶּה פְּקוּדֵי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל שֵׁשׁ מֵאוֹת אֶלֶף וָאָלֶף שְׁבַע מֵאוֹת וּשְׁלֹשִׁים
KJ: These were the numbered of the children of Israel, six hundred thousand and a thousand seven hundred and thirty.
BN: These are they that were numbered of the Beney Yisra-El, six hundred and one thousand, seven hundred and thirty.
How does that number compare with the previous census? Six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty, according to Numbers 1:46 - but a very different spread among the tribes, with some considerably diminished, others considerably enlarged. Nonetheless, numbers are down - and in a fertility cult such as this one, that is not going to please the gods and goddesses. Clearly more time should have been spent in sex, and less in war, rebellion and sacrifice.
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26:52 VA YEDABER YHVH EL MOSHEH LEMOR
וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר
KJ: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
BN: Then YHVH spoke to Mosheh, saying:
26:53 LA ELEH TECHALEK HA ARETS BE NACHALAH BE MISPAR SHEMOT
לָאֵלֶּה תֵּחָלֵק הָאָרֶץ בְּנַחֲלָה בְּמִסְפַּר שֵׁמוֹת
KJ: Unto these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names.
BN: "To these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the outcome of the census...
The inference being, and the following verse confirms it, that the tribal map will be drawn according to geographic need: the larger the tribe, the larger the inheritance. But this does not take into account other geographical factors, such as deserts, swamps, lakes, mountains, coastal plains, which impact with different significance on different numbers. And in the event tribal inheritance will be determined by completely different factors: Re'u-Ven, Gad and half of Menasheh wanting to stay east of the Yarden, Dan forced to relocate by Pelishtim establishing illegal settlements in occupied Beney Yisra-El territory on the west coast and in the Gaza Strip; or simply large stretches of land that would not be successfully conquered for several centuries yet - for all of which, in detail, go to the books of Joshua and Shoftim (Judges).
26:54 LA RAV TARBEH NACHALATO VE LA ME'AT TAMIT NACHALATO ISH LE PHI PHEKUDAV YUTAN NACHALATO
לָרַב תַּרְבֶּה נַחֲלָתוֹ וְלַמְעַט תַּמְעִיט נַחֲלָתוֹ אִישׁ לְפִי פְקֻדָיו יֻתַּן נַחֲלָתוֹ
KJ: To many thou shalt give the more inheritance, and to few thou shalt give the less inheritance: to every one shall his inheritance be given according to those that were numbered of him.
BN: "To the more you shall give the greater inheritance, and to the fewer you shall give the lesser inheritance; to each one according to those that were numbered, of that shall its inheritance be given...
Establishing for all time the principle that the more you have the more you will receive! So much for "just weights, just measures" in... take your pick... Leviticus 19:36, Deuteronomy 25:15, Proverbs 11:1... but see again my note at the end of verse 51, which you thought at the time was just silly and satirical.
26:55 APH BE GORAL YECHALEK HA ARETS LI SHEMOT MATOT AVOTAM YINCHALU
אַךְ בְּגוֹרָל יֵחָלֵק אֶת הָאָרֶץ לִשְׁמוֹת מַטּוֹת אֲבֹתָם יִנְחָלוּ
KJ: Notwithstanding the land shall be divided by lot: according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit.
BN: Notwithstanding the land shall be divided by lot; according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit.
It is frankly unclear how both lots and division-by-size can be synchronised; nor does the next verse provided a satisfactory answer. Nor is it clear how lots will work: the land has to have been fully conquered in order that its division by map is also meaningful in lottery-reality. And anyway, as noted above, Re'u-Ven, Gad and half of Menasheh decided not to come into the land anyway, but stayed east of the river; and sadly, once he had conquered what he wanted for his domain, Yehoshu'a stopped fighting and left the tribes who didn't yet have any land to get what they could for themselves - see the latter chapter of his book for the detail on this.
26:56 AL PI HA GORAL TECHALEK NACHALATO BEYN RAV LI ME'AT
עַל פִּי הַגּוֹרָל תֵּחָלֵק נַחֲלָתוֹ בֵּין רַב לִמְעָט
KJ: According to the lot shall the possession thereof be divided between many and few.
BN: According to the lot shall their inheritance be divided between the greater number and the lesser.
The "lots" will become important later on, in a very different form - the festival of Purim is also called "the Feast of Lots", and it was brought back to Yehudah from Persia at exactly the time the Tanach was being written.
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26:57 VE ELEH PHEKUDEY HA LEVI LE MISHPECHOTAM LE GERSHON MISHPACHAT HA GERSHUNI LI KEHAT MISHPACHAT HA KEHATI LI MERARI MISHPACHAT HA MERARI
26:57 VE ELEH PHEKUDEY HA LEVI LE MISHPECHOTAM LE GERSHON MISHPACHAT HA GERSHUNI LI KEHAT MISHPACHAT HA KEHATI LI MERARI MISHPACHAT HA MERARI
וְאֵלֶּה פְקוּדֵי הַלֵּוִי לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לְגֵרְשׁוֹן מִשְׁפַּחַת הַגֵּרְשֻׁנִּי לִקְהָת מִשְׁפַּחַת הַקְּהָתִי לִמְרָרִי מִשְׁפַּחַת הַמְּרָרִי
KJ: And these are they that were numbered of the Levites after their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites: of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites: of Merari, the family of the Merarites.
BN: And these are they who were numbered from the Beney Levi, according to their clans: of Gershon, the clan of the Gershonites; of Kehat, the clan of the Kehati; of Merari, the clan of the Merari.
The Leviyim separated from the rest of the list, because they will not be inheriting land in Kena'an (see verse 62); theirs is the religious service.
LEVI: See the link.
GERSHON: See the link.
KEHAT: See the link. No one has a clue what the root of this might mean, though the word occurs at Genesis 49:10, possibly meaning "congregation", possibly meaning "obedience": either way the sense of all his subjects coming to prostrate themselves at the feet of their sovereign lord - which makes for a splendid grandfathering of Mosheh over the next two verses.
MERARI: See the link.
26:58 ELEH MISHPECHOT LEVI MISHPACHAT HA LIVNI MISHPACHAT HA CHEVRONI MISHPACHAT HA MACHLI MISHPACHAT HA MUSHI MISHPACHAT HA KARECHI U KEHAT HOLID ET AM-RAM
אֵלֶּה מִשְׁפְּחֹת לֵוִי מִשְׁפַּחַת הַלִּבְנִי מִשְׁפַּחַת הַחֶבְרֹנִי מִשְׁפַּחַת הַמַּחְלִי מִשְׁפַּחַת הַמּוּשִׁי מִשְׁפַּחַת הַקָּרְחִי וּקְהָת הוֹלִד אֶת עַמְרָם
KJ: These are the families of the Levites: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, the family of the Korathites. And Kohath begat Amram.
BN: These are the clans of Levi: the clan of the Livni, the clan of the Chevroni, the clan of the Machli, the clan of the Mushi, the clan of the Karechi. And Kehat begat Am-Ram.
So many of these clans are the equivalents of hamlets, villages, even small towns. Were they named as nostalgia for the land of their ancestors? That would certainly make sense for Chevron, where most of those ancestors were buried.
LIVNI: Is that from the root LAVAN, meaning "white", and therefore connected to... but how odd. At one level, all the Beney Yisra-El would then be Livni, because Le'ah and Rachel were Lavan's daughters, and Zilpah and Bilhah the maidservants that Lavan gave them, whom they then passed on to Ya'akov as concubines, were his "property". But LAVAN is really "the white god" of that mythological tale, and the land he rules was what we now call the Levant, its western end specifically the Lebanon; and there is also a town, mentioned repeatedly in Joshua (10:29, 12:15, 15:42) and again in 2 Kings 8:22, 19:8 and 23:31), called Libnah. But I suspect it is none of these; rather the naming of this Guild's (rather than clan's) function, which was the preparation of the Lavonah, or incense; though it could have been that they specialised in a type of instrument known (Psalm 46:1ff is the source that some modern scholars use for this, but I am afraid that I cannot make head or tail of their conclusion) as the MUT LABEN. Or even perhaps that they took their name from the making of the tiles at the time of Egyptian slavery, the Levenah which took their name from the chalky clay from which they were made (Genesis 11:3, Exodus 5:7, Ezekiel 4:1). The root simply means "white", and the usages multiple.
CHEVRONI: See the link.
MACHLI: We met him once before, at Numbers 3:20, as the brother of Mushi, both sons of Merari. Worth looking again at that chapter, from verse 15 onwards, because that was the first "census" of the tribe, and the names do not always coincide with the ones in this census.
There, it was an individual's name, where here it is the clan; should it not then be MACHLI'I for the latter?
KARECHI: Why not Korachi, given that the name is Korach? To which the answer is: it should actually be Korchi, but that qamats underneath the Kaf has been given a modern Ivrit (Sephardi) pronunciation; meanwhile the sheva underneath the Reysh should be silent, as Ha is the definite article and the Reysh therefore the end of the syllable, beneath which a sheva is always silent - click here for the grammar.
AM-RAM: Why are we being given this piece of information? See next verse. And note when you get there that AM-RAM means "great people", a perfect name really, in the circumstance, especially following Kehat!
26:59 VE SHEM ESHET AM-RAM YOCHEVED BAT LEVI ASHER YALDAH OTAH LE LEVI BE MITSRAYIM VA TELED LE AM-RAM ET AHARON VE ET MOSHEH VE ET MIRYAM ACHOTAM
KJ: And the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bare to Levi in Egypt: and she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister.
BN: And the name of Am-Ram's wife was Yocheved, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Mitsrayim; and she bore to Am-Ram Aharon and Mosheh, and Mir-Yam their sister.
26:59 VE SHEM ESHET AM-RAM YOCHEVED BAT LEVI ASHER YALDAH OTAH LE LEVI BE MITSRAYIM VA TELED LE AM-RAM ET AHARON VE ET MOSHEH VE ET MIRYAM ACHOTAM
וְשֵׁם אֵשֶׁת עַמְרָם יוֹכֶבֶד בַּת לֵוִי אֲשֶׁר יָלְדָה אֹתָהּ לְלֵוִי בְּמִצְרָיִם וַתֵּלֶד לְעַמְרָם אֶת אַהֲרֹן וְאֶת מֹשֶׁה וְאֵת מִרְיָם אֲחֹתָם
KJ: And the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bare to Levi in Egypt: and she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister.
BN: And the name of Am-Ram's wife was Yocheved, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Mitsrayim; and she bore to Am-Ram Aharon and Mosheh, and Mir-Yam their sister.
YOCHEVED: Which surely makes that an incestuous marriage - see my note at Genesis 20:12; the confirmation is here; though in fact it is no different from Av-Raham and Sarah. But did we not already know this? And of course the statement presents a major problem. Levi was among those who went down to Mitsrayim with Ya'akov, when Yoseph was Vizier and had effectively (extremely effectively!) indentured the entire Mitsri nation into feudal vassaldom. At that time the Beney Yisra-El were the lords of the land, with the Pharaoh himself funding Ya'akov's grand funeral, and most of the court going off to Kena'an to attend it. Levi being the fourth child, and the names of the sons who came down to Mitsrayim being given, we can assume that Yocheved was already a grown-up, quite possibly already married, when she arrived in Mitsrayim; or at the very least it happened in the years immediately afterwards. How long is "immediately"? According to the Book of Exodus, 430 years passed between the death of Ya'akov and the enslavement of the Habiru! And 40 years crossing the wilderness when they went home again!
It is also worth bringing together my notes, above, on Kehat and Am-Ram: the grandfather named for the bringing together of the people in obedient audience before their majesty, the father named as "great people", and then Mosheh himself, to whom both of those epithets apply. History, or mythology?
26:60 VA YIVALED LE AHARON ET NADAV VE ET AVI-HU ET EL-AZAR VE ET ITAMAR
KJ: And unto Aaron was born Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
BN: And to Aharon were born Nadav and Avi-Hu, El-Azar and Iytamar.
NADAV: See the link.
26:60 VA YIVALED LE AHARON ET NADAV VE ET AVI-HU ET EL-AZAR VE ET ITAMAR
וַיִּוָּלֵד לְאַהֲרֹן אֶת נָדָב וְאֶת אֲבִיהוּא אֶת אֶלְעָזָר וְאֶת אִיתָמָר
KJ: And unto Aaron was born Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
BN: And to Aharon were born Nadav and Avi-Hu, El-Azar and Iytamar.
NADAV: See the link.
AVI-HU: See the link.
EL-AZAR: See the link.
IYTAMAR: See the link.
26:61 VA YAMAT NADAV VA AVI-HU BE HAKRIVAM EYSH ZARAH LIPHNEY YHVH
KJ: And Nadab and Abihu died, when they offered strange fire before the LORD.
BN: And Nadav and Avi-Hu died, when they offered strange fire before YHVH.
In Leviticus 10.
26:62 VA YIHEYU PHEKUDEYHEM SHELOSHAH VE ESRIM ELEPH KOL ZACHAR MI BEN CHODESH VA MA'LAH KI LO HATPAKDU BETOCH BENEY YISRA-EL KI LO NITAN LAHEM NACHALAH BETOCH BENEY YISRA-EL
KJ: And those that were numbered of them were twenty and three thousand, all males from a month old and upward: for they were not numbered among the children of Israel, because there was no inheritance given them among the children of Israel.
BN: And the total number counted, every male from a month old and upward, was twenty-three thousand; for they were not counted among the Beney Yisra-El, because there was no inheritance given them among the Beney Yisra-El.
Nor any role in the military, and we know from verse 2 that this census was based on the age of eligibility for conscription.
The total number of Leviyim in the previous census (Numbers 3:39) was twenty-two thousand. Surprising that both counts came out to such perfectly round numbers.
26:63 ELEH PEKUDEY MOSHEH VE EL-AZAR HA KOHEN ASHER PAKDU ET BENEY YISRA-EL BE ARVOT MO-AV AL YARDEN YERECHO
KJ: These are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.
BN: These are they who were numbered by Mosheh and El-Azar the Kohen, who counted the Beney Yisra-El in the plains of Mo-Av by the Yarden at Yerecho.
Once again Yerecho - see my note to Numbers 22:1.
26:64 U VE ELEH LO HAYAH ISH MI PEKUDEY MOSHEH VE AHARON HA KOHEN ASHER PAKDU ET BENEY YISRA-EL BE MIDBAR SINAI
KJ: But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.
BN: And among these there was not a man left of those who had been counted by Mosheh and Aharon the priest, who counted the Beney Yisra-El in the wilderness of Sinai.
Meaning what? That every single person who had been counted in the previous census was now dead, and this an entirely new population, save only Yehoshu'a and Kalev, Mosheh himself, and El-Azar? Does that even include the tiny babes and infants... no, we know it doesn't, because this says "they who were counted", and there was a minimum age, 20, as now, and it was only the males who were counted, of any age. So every single father of that time is now dead, and every single grandfather as well, dead in a plague or a rebellion or a purge or a war, or simply from old age and natural causes (because if they were too old to be counted then, and 38 more years have elapsed...). Which means we now have a Beney Yisra-El made up, entirely, of orphans, widows, and the offspring of those under 20 at the time!
And at what point did the text tell us that we had jumped fully thirty-eight years, from the first month of the second year, which is the last date I can recall being told, to this, which is clearly at the end of the journey? We never actually have been told this, though that assumption is generally made at the start of Numbers 20 - see my notes there.
26:65 KI AMAR YHVH LAHEM MOT YAMUTU BA MIDBAR VE LO NOTAR ME HEM ISH KI IM KALEV BEN YEPHUNEH VIY'HOSHU'A BIN NUN
KJ: For the LORD had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
BN: For YHVH had said of them: They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Kalev ben Yephuneh, and Yehoshu'a bin Nun.
The fault of the other ten spies - see Numbers 13 and 14 (14:23 is the key verse)
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26:61 VA YAMAT NADAV VA AVI-HU BE HAKRIVAM EYSH ZARAH LIPHNEY YHVH
וַיָּמָת נָדָב וַאֲבִיהוּא בְּהַקְרִיבָם אֵשׁ זָרָה לִפְנֵי יְהוָה
KJ: And Nadab and Abihu died, when they offered strange fire before the LORD.
BN: And Nadav and Avi-Hu died, when they offered strange fire before YHVH.
In Leviticus 10.
26:62 VA YIHEYU PHEKUDEYHEM SHELOSHAH VE ESRIM ELEPH KOL ZACHAR MI BEN CHODESH VA MA'LAH KI LO HATPAKDU BETOCH BENEY YISRA-EL KI LO NITAN LAHEM NACHALAH BETOCH BENEY YISRA-EL
וַיִּהְיוּ פְקֻדֵיהֶם שְׁלֹשָׁה וְעֶשְׂרִים אֶלֶף כָּל זָכָר מִבֶּן חֹדֶשׁ וָמָעְלָה כִּי לֹא הָתְפָּקְדוּ בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי לֹא נִתַּן לָהֶם נַחֲלָה בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
KJ: And those that were numbered of them were twenty and three thousand, all males from a month old and upward: for they were not numbered among the children of Israel, because there was no inheritance given them among the children of Israel.
BN: And the total number counted, every male from a month old and upward, was twenty-three thousand; for they were not counted among the Beney Yisra-El, because there was no inheritance given them among the Beney Yisra-El.
Nor any role in the military, and we know from verse 2 that this census was based on the age of eligibility for conscription.
The total number of Leviyim in the previous census (Numbers 3:39) was twenty-two thousand. Surprising that both counts came out to such perfectly round numbers.
26:63 ELEH PEKUDEY MOSHEH VE EL-AZAR HA KOHEN ASHER PAKDU ET BENEY YISRA-EL BE ARVOT MO-AV AL YARDEN YERECHO
אֵלֶּה פְּקוּדֵי מֹשֶׁה וְאֶלְעָזָר הַכֹּהֵן אֲשֶׁר פָּקְדוּ אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּעַרְבֹת מוֹאָב עַל יַרְדֵּן יְרֵחוֹ
KJ: These are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.
BN: These are they who were numbered by Mosheh and El-Azar the Kohen, who counted the Beney Yisra-El in the plains of Mo-Av by the Yarden at Yerecho.
Once again Yerecho - see my note to Numbers 22:1.
26:64 U VE ELEH LO HAYAH ISH MI PEKUDEY MOSHEH VE AHARON HA KOHEN ASHER PAKDU ET BENEY YISRA-EL BE MIDBAR SINAI
וּבְאֵלֶּה לֹא הָיָה אִישׁ מִפְּקוּדֵי מֹשֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן אֲשֶׁר פָּקְדוּ אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּמִדְבַּר סִינָי
KJ: But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.
BN: And among these there was not a man left of those who had been counted by Mosheh and Aharon the priest, who counted the Beney Yisra-El in the wilderness of Sinai.
Meaning what? That every single person who had been counted in the previous census was now dead, and this an entirely new population, save only Yehoshu'a and Kalev, Mosheh himself, and El-Azar? Does that even include the tiny babes and infants... no, we know it doesn't, because this says "they who were counted", and there was a minimum age, 20, as now, and it was only the males who were counted, of any age. So every single father of that time is now dead, and every single grandfather as well, dead in a plague or a rebellion or a purge or a war, or simply from old age and natural causes (because if they were too old to be counted then, and 38 more years have elapsed...). Which means we now have a Beney Yisra-El made up, entirely, of orphans, widows, and the offspring of those under 20 at the time!
And at what point did the text tell us that we had jumped fully thirty-eight years, from the first month of the second year, which is the last date I can recall being told, to this, which is clearly at the end of the journey? We never actually have been told this, though that assumption is generally made at the start of Numbers 20 - see my notes there.
26:65 KI AMAR YHVH LAHEM MOT YAMUTU BA MIDBAR VE LO NOTAR ME HEM ISH KI IM KALEV BEN YEPHUNEH VIY'HOSHU'A BIN NUN
כִּי אָמַר יְהוָה לָהֶם מוֹת יָמֻתוּ בַּמִּדְבָּר וְלֹא נוֹתַר מֵהֶם אִישׁ כִּי אִם כָּלֵב בֶּן יְפֻנֶּה וִיהוֹשֻׁעַ בִּן נוּן
KJ: For the LORD had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
BN: For YHVH had said of them: They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Kalev ben Yephuneh, and Yehoshu'a bin Nun.
The fault of the other ten spies - see Numbers 13 and 14 (14:23 is the key verse)
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