Numbers 31:4

4 From every tribe of Israel send a thousand 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 Give the Midianites punishment for the wrong they did to the children of Israel: and after that you will go to rest with your people.

3 So Moses said to the people, Let men from among you be armed for war to put into effect against Midian the Lord's punishment on them.

4 From every tribe of Israel send a thousand to the war.

5 So from the thousands of Israel a thousand were taken from every tribe, twelve thousand men armed for war.

6 And Moses sent them out to war, a thousand from every tribe, and with them Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, taking in his hands the vessels of the holy place and the horns for sounding the note of war.