Numbers 26:57–62, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Numbers 26:57–62
The Levite Census Preserves a Separate Line and Total
Levi is counted by clan, with the sibling births and Nadab and Abihu
These are they that were numbered of the Levites after their families: Gershon, Kohath, Merari, and the named clans under them. Amram's wife Jochebed, a daughter of Levi, bore to Amram Aaron, Moses, and Miriam their sister. To Aaron were born Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Nadab and Abihu died when they offered strange fire before the LORD.
Twenty-three thousand males from a month old, because Levi has no tribal lot
Those numbered of the Levites from a month old and upward were twenty and three thousand. They were not numbered among the children of Israel, because there was no inheritance given them among the children of Israel.
The age line is younger than the war count. Miriam is named in the sibling set; she is not erased. Separate census and landlessness mark sanctuary service, not superiority. They do not prove a complete family tree, and they do not justify making clergy landless, dependent, or exempt now.
How this should shape us
Keep Levites in their distinct column without ranking them above the tribes who will hold fields. Name Miriam with her brothers. Do not copy sanctuary landlessness into a modern clergy economy, and do not treat a clan list as finished genealogy.
Teach it back
Explain Numbers 26:57–62 in your own words. Include its place in Numbers' movement from Sinai to Moab, both movements within this thought unit, one material uncertainty, one affected person or group, and one use the complete context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters disagree about the figures' demographic force, the sense of eleph, military and household categories, compositional setting, archival memory, symbolism, and historical scale. The received totals are explicit; a modern headcount reconstruction is not. For “The Levite Census Preserves a Separate Line and Total,” confidence is strongest in the received unit's stated sequence and literary function; source, date, demography, geography, mechanism, archaeology, and historical reconstruction remain probable, plausible, or uncertain as the evidence warrants.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Numbers 26:57–62, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, numbers, speeches, poems, legal clauses, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Num.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 26:57–62
Supports: Unit-bounded translation, syntax, lexical, ritual, legal, number, name, poetic, and selected textual notes; silence is not evidence.
NET Bible Numbers PDF, complete 134-page PDF, translation and translator notes attached to 26:57–62
Supports: Moab movement, law, leadership transition, land, war, women, refuge, and compositional framing.
Yale Bible Study, Numbers Part 2, complete two-page study guide sections on Balaam, Baal Peor, second census, women and inheritance, war with Midian, Transjordan, itinerary, boundaries, Levite and refuge cities, and final inheritance, applied to Numbers 26:57–62
Supports: Nonchronological placement of Numbers 1 and 9, sanctuary-centered opening, and source-critical alternatives.
TheTorah, “The Message of the Non-Chronological Opening of Numbers,” complete sections “Tabernacle Chronology,” “Why Doesn't Numbers Begin with Passover?,” and proposed source-order discussion, applied to Numbers 26:57–62
Supports: Received census totals, terminology, scaling proposals, arithmetic limits, and uncertainty about historical demography.
TheTorah, “Recounting the Census: A Military Force of 5,500,” complete census tables and sections on eleph, totals, military counting, and demographic alternatives, applied to Numbers 26:57–62
Supports: Miriam and Aaron's challenge, narrative asymmetry, prophetic authority, and responsible reception.
TheTorah, “Re-Encountering Miriam,” complete sections on Numbers 12, Cushite woman, prophetic speech, punishment, gender, and later interpretation, applied to Numbers 26:57–62
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Numbers 26:57–62, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Numbers
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, release 2.2, 2021
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, numbers, speeches, poems, legal clauses, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Num.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 26:57–62
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Numbers with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, source files dated 2026-08-08
Supports: Unit-bounded translation, syntax, lexical, ritual, legal, number, name, poetic, and selected textual notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Numbers PDF, complete 134-page PDF, translation and translator notes attached to 26:57–62
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Numbers Part 2
Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2023 course edition
Supports: Moab movement, law, leadership transition, land, war, women, refuge, and compositional framing.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Numbers Part 2, complete two-page study guide sections on Balaam, Baal Peor, second census, women and inheritance, war with Midian, Transjordan, itinerary, boundaries, Levite and refuge cities, and final inheritance, applied to Numbers 26:57–62
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open literary study
The Message of the Non-Chronological Opening of Numbers
TheTorah.com named scholarly contributor
TheTorah.com, 2017
Supports: Nonchronological placement of Numbers 1 and 9, sanctuary-centered opening, and source-critical alternatives.
Exact location: TheTorah, “The Message of the Non-Chronological Opening of Numbers,” complete sections “Tabernacle Chronology,” “Why Doesn't Numbers Begin with Passover?,” and proposed source-order discussion, applied to Numbers 26:57–62
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open demography and text study
Recounting the Census: A Military Force of 5,500 (not 603,550) Men
TheTorah.com named scholarly contributor
TheTorah.com, 2015
Supports: Received census totals, terminology, scaling proposals, arithmetic limits, and uncertainty about historical demography.
Exact location: TheTorah, “Recounting the Census: A Military Force of 5,500,” complete census tables and sections on eleph, totals, military counting, and demographic alternatives, applied to Numbers 26:57–62
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open character and reception study
Re-Encountering Miriam
TheTorah.com named scholarly contributor
TheTorah.com, 2016
Supports: Miriam and Aaron's challenge, narrative asymmetry, prophetic authority, and responsible reception.
Exact location: TheTorah, “Re-Encountering Miriam,” complete sections on Numbers 12, Cushite woman, prophetic speech, punishment, gender, and later interpretation, applied to Numbers 26:57–62
Open source ↗