Numbers 1:1

The Census of Israel

1 The Lord spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting in the Wilderness of Sinai, on the first [day] of the second month of the second year^[a] after Israel's departure from the land of Egypt:

Numbers 1:1 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 1:1

And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai
Which is different from the wilderness of Sin, ( Exodus 16:1 ) ; and had its name from the mountain so called, on which God gave the law of the decalogue, and where the Israelites had been encamped eleven months, ( Exodus 19:1 Exodus 19:2 ) ;

in the tabernacle of the congregation;
which had now been set up a whole month, and out of which the Lord had delivered to Moses the several laws recorded in the preceding book in that space of time, ( Exodus 40:17 ) ( Leviticus 1:1 ) ;

on the first [day] of the second month;
the month Ijar, as the Targum of Jonathan, which answers to part of our April, and part of May, and was the second month of the ecclesiastical year, which began with Abib or Nisan:

in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt;
that is, the children of Israel, who had now been a year and half a month out of it:

saying,
as follows.

Numbers 1:1 In-Context

1 The Lord spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting in the Wilderness of Sinai, on the first [day] of the second month of the second year after Israel's departure from the land of Egypt:

2 "Take a census of the entire Israelite community by their clans and their ancestral houses, counting the names of every male one by one.

3 You and Aaron are to register those who are 20 years old or more by their military divisions-everyone who can serve in Israel's army.

4 A man from each tribe is to be with you, each one the head of his ancestral house.

5 These are the names of the men who are to assist you: Elizur son of Shedeur from Reuben;

Footnotes

• [a]. Ex 12:40-41; 19:1; 40:17