Numbers 31:4

4 You are to send to the war a thousand men from every one of Isra'el's tribes."

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 "On behalf of the people of Isra'el, take vengeance on the Midyanim. After that, you will be gathered to your people."

3 Moshe said to the people, "Equip men from among yourselves for war. They are to go and fight Midyan, in order to carry out ADONAI's vengeance on Midyan.

4 You are to send to the war a thousand men from every one of Isra'el's tribes."

5 So out of the thousands of people in Isra'el, a thousand armed men from each tribe, 12,000 altogether, were mustered for war.

6 Moshe sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the war; he sent them and Pinchas the son of El'azar the cohen to the war, with the holy utensils and the trumpets for sounding the alarm in his care.