Numbers 3:40

¶ And the Lord said vnto Moses, Number all the first borne of the males of the children of Israel, from a moneth old and vpward, and take the number of their names.
- King James Version (1611) - View 1611 Bible Scan

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Number every firstborn male of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and make a list of their names.
- New American Standard Version (1995)

And Jehovah said unto Moses, Number all the first-born males of the children of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names.
- American Standard Version (1901)

And the Lord said to Moses, Let all the first male children be numbered, and take the number of their names.
- Basic English Bible

And Jehovah said to Moses, Number all the first-born males of the children of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names.
- Darby Bible

And the LORD said to Moses, number all the first-born of the males of the children of Israel, from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names.
- Webster's Bible

Yahweh said to Moses, "Number all the firstborn males of the children of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names.
- World English Bible

And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Number every first-born male of the sons of Israel from a son of a month and upward, and take up the number of their names;
- Youngs Literal Bible

And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Number all the first-born males of the children of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names.
- Jewish Publication Society Bible

Wesley's Notes for Numbers 3:40

3:38 For the charge - Either in their stead, that charge which they were obliged to keep, if God had not committed it to those: or for their benefit; for their preservation, as the word may be rendered.

3:39 Two and twenty thousand - If the particular numbers mentioned #Num 3:22|,28,34, be put together, they make 22,300. But the odd 300 are omitted here, either according to the use of the holy scripture, where in so great numbers small sums are commonly neglected, or, because they were the first - born of the Levites, and therefore belonged to God already, and so could not be given to him again instead of the other first - born. If this number of first - born seem small to come from 22,000 Levites, it must be considered, that only such first - born are here named as were males, and such as continued in their parents families, not such as had erected new families of their own. Add to this, that God so ordered things by his wise providence for divers weighty reasons, that this tribe should be much the least of all the tribes, as is evident by comparing the numbers of the other tribes, from twenty years old, #Num 1:3 |- 49, with the number of this from a month old; and therefore it is not strange if the number of their first - born be less than in other tribes.

3:41 Instead of the first - born - Such as are now alive of them, but those which should be born of them hereafter are otherwise disposed. Of the Levites - Not that they were to be taken from the Levites, or to be sacrificed to God, any more than the Levites themselves were; but they together with the Levites were to be presented before the Lord by way of acknowledgment, that the Levites might be set apart for God's service, and their cattle for themselves as God's ministers, and for their support in God's work.