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 Israelites on the Midianites; afterward you shall be gathered to your people."

3 So Moses said to the people, "Arm some of your number for the war, so 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 out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe were conscripted, twelve thousand armed for battle.

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