Numbers 31:4

4 You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel 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 "Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people."

3 So 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 You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war."

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

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