Numbers 26:1

A New Census

1 And it happened after the plague, Yahweh said to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saying,

Numbers 26:1 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 26:1

And it came to pass after the plague
Related in the preceding chapter; how long after is not certain, perhaps before the war with Midian, exhorted to in the latter part of the foregoing chapter, and of which an account is given, ( Numbers 31:1-54 ) :

that the Lord spake unto Moses;
out of the tabernacle, or out of the cloud:

and unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest;
the Lord had been used to speak to Moses and to Aaron; but now Aaron being dead, and Eleazar his son succeeding him in the priesthood, is joined with Moses, and the order here given is directed to them both:

saying:
as follows.

Numbers 26:1 In-Context

1 And it happened after the plague, Yahweh said to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saying,

2 "{Take a census} of the community of the {Israelites} from {those twenty years old} and above, according to {their families}, all who are able to go out to war in Israel."

3 So Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them on the desert-plateau of Moab by [the] Jordan [across from] Jericho, saying,

4 "[Take a census of the community] from {those twenty years old} and above, just as Yahweh commanded Moses." The Israelites who went out from the land of Egypt [were]:

5 Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, the descendants of Reuben: [of] Hanoch, the clan of the Hanochites; of Pallu, the clan of the Palluites;

Footnotes

• [a]. Numbers 26:1a in the English Bible is 25:19b in the Hebrew Bible
• [b]. In the Hebrew Bible, Numbers 26:1 begins here