Numbers 1:47

47 But this total did not include the Levites.

Numbers 1:47 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 1:47

But the Levites
The tribe of Levi were excepted from this muster, they being employed in a kind of warfare, and therefore not to be engaged in another:

after the tribe of their fathers, were not numbered among them:
the rest of the tribes; the reason follows.

Numbers 1:47 In-Context

45 They were registered by families—all the men of Israel who were twenty years old or older and able to go to war.

46 The total number was 603,550.

47 But this total did not include the Levites.

48 For the LORD had said to Moses,

49 “Do not include the tribe of Levi in the registration; do not count them with the rest of the Israelites.