Numbers 31:4

4 "A thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war."

Numbers 31:4 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 31:4

Of every tribe a thousand
So that the whole number of those that were armed were 12,000 as after given:

throughout all the tribes of Israel;
this is observed, as Jarchi thinks, to comprehend the tribe of Levi, which in some cases was left out of the account:

shall ye send to the war;
to fight with Midian.

Numbers 31:4 In-Context

2 "Take full vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people."

3 Moses spoke to the people, saying, "Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute the LORD'S vengeance on Midian.

4 "A thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war."

5 So there were furnished from the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

6 Moses sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the war, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war with them, and the holy vessels and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.