Numbers 3:27–39, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Numbers 3:27–39
Kohath, Merari, and the Sanctuary Guard Are Counted
Kohath south, Merari north, priests east: three more sides of one fence
Kohath's clans are Amram, Izehar, Hebron, and Uzziel, 8,600 keeping the charge of the sanctuary, pitching on the side of the tabernacle southward, Elizaphan son of Uzziel chief. Their charge is the ark, table, candlestick, altars, vessels of the sanctuary, and the hanging. Eleazar son of Aaron is chief over the chief of the Levites, with the oversight of them that keep the charge of the sanctuary.
Merari's clans are Mahli and Mushi, 6,200, pitching northward under Zuriel son of Abihail. Their charge is the boards, bars, pillars, sockets, and the vessels of that service, plus the court's pillars, sockets, pins, and cords. Moses, Aaron, and Aaron's sons pitch east, before the tabernacle toward the sunrise, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the children of Israel. A stranger that comes near is to be put to death.
The Levite total is a camp total, not a license to hide injury
All that were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the LORD's commandment, males from a month old, were 22,000. Dangerous holy furnishings and heavy frames are in these assignments. The text's own later chapters will limit who actually carries them by age.
Sacred danger does not authorize unsafe labor, priestly immunity when workers are harmed, excluding disabled people from belonging, or adjusting a reported total to protect an institution's story.
How this should shape us
Put the most dangerous objects under trained, named oversight, and keep the people who carry structure as visible as the people who carry gold. Publish real totals, real loads, and real limits. Do not let 'holy' become a reason to hide injury.
Teach it back
Explain Numbers 3:27–39 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 debate the camp's geometry, historical feasibility, source layers, symbolic arrangement, chronology, and relation to later sanctuary institutions. The final form's ordered movement is stronger evidence than a reconstructed map or date. For “Kohath, Merari, and the Sanctuary Guard Are Counted,” 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 3:27–39, 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 3:27–39
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 3:27–39
Supports: Final-form movement, wilderness setting, census and camp, complaint, leadership, composition, and ethical framing.
Yale Bible Study, Numbers Part 1, complete study guide sections “Introduction,” “At Sinai (1:1–10:10),” “From Sinai to Moab (10:11–22:1),” and “Composition,” applied to Numbers 3:27–39
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 3:27–39
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 3:27–39
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 3:27–39, 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 3:27–39
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 3:27–39
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Numbers Part 1
Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2023 course edition
Supports: Final-form movement, wilderness setting, census and camp, complaint, leadership, composition, and ethical framing.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Numbers Part 1, complete study guide sections “Introduction,” “At Sinai (1:1–10:10),” “From Sinai to Moab (10:11–22:1),” and “Composition,” applied to Numbers 3:27–39
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 3:27–39
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 3:27–39
Open source ↗