Numbers 3:40

40 And the Lord said to Moses, Number thou the first begotten of male kind of the sons of Israel, from one month and above (from one month of age and older); and thou shalt have the sum, or the number, of them;

Numbers 3:40 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 3:40

And the Lord said unto Moses
After he had taken the number of the Levites:

number all the firstborn of the children of Israel, from a month old
and upward, and take the number of their names;
that they might be compared with the number of the Levites, and the difference between them observed.

Numbers 3:40 In-Context

38 Forsooth Moses, and Aaron with his sons, shall set their tents before the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace, that is, at the east coast, and shall have the keeping of the saintuary, in the midst of the sons of Israel; whatever alien nigheth thereto, he shall die. (And Moses, and Aaron with his sons, shall pitch their tents in front of the Tabernacle of the Covenant, that is, on the east side, and they shall be in charge of the sanctuary, on behalf of the Israelites; and any stranger who cometh near to it, shall be put to death.)

39 All the Levites, which Moses and Aaron numbered, by the commandment of the Lord, by their families, in male kind, from one month and above, were two and twenty thousand. (And the number of all the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron listed, or registered, by the Lord's command, by their families, all the males from one month of age and older, was twenty-two thousand.)

40 And the Lord said to Moses, Number thou the first begotten of male kind of the sons of Israel, from one month and above (from one month of age and older); and thou shalt have the sum, or the number, of them;

41 and thou shalt take the Levites to me for all the first begotten of the sons of Israel; I am the Lord; and thou shalt take their beasts (to me) for all the first begotten of the sons of Israel. (and thou shalt give me the Levites in place of all the first-born sons of the Israelites; I am the Lord; and thou shalt give me the beasts of the Levites in place of all the first-born male beasts of the Israelites.)

42 And as the Lord commanded, Moses numbered the first begotten (male) children of the sons of Israel;