Numbers 26:54-64

54 to the many thou dost increase their inheritance, and to the few thou dost diminish their inheritance; [to] each according to his numbered ones is given his inheritance.

55 `Only by lot is the land apportioned, by the names of the tribes of their fathers they inherit;

56 according to the lot is their inheritance apportioned between many and few.'

57 And these [are] numbered ones of the Levite by their families: of Gershon [is] the family of the Gershonite; of Kohath the family of the Kohathite; of Merari the family of the Merarite.

58 These [are] families of the Levite: the family of the Libnite, the family of the Hebronite, the family of the Mahlite, the family of the Mushite, the family of the Korathite. And Kohath hath begotten Amram,

59 and the name of Amram's wife is Jochebed, daughter of Levi, whom [one] hath born to Levi in Egypt; and she beareth to Amram Aaron, and Moses, and Miriam their sister.

60 And born to Aaron Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar;

61 and Nadab dieth -- Abihu also -- in their bringing near strange fire before Jehovah.

62 And their numbered ones are three and twenty thousand, every male from a son of a month and upwards, for they have not numbered themselves in the midst of the sons of Israel; for an inheritance hath not been given to them in the midst of the sons of Israel.

63 These [are] those numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who have numbered the sons of Israel in the plains of Moab, by Jordan, [near] Jericho;

64 and among these there hath not been a man of those numbered by Moses, and Aaron the priest, who numbered the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai,

Numbers 26:54-64 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 26

In this chapter an order is given to number the people of Israel a second time, Nu 26:1-4 and the account begins with Reuben, the firstborn, and the families that sprung from him, and the number of them, Nu 26:5-7 and Dathan and Abiram being of this tribe, the affair of them and Korah is afresh related, Nu 26:8-11, then the tribe of Simeon, its families and number, Nu 26:12-14, next the tribe of Gad, and their families and number, Nu 26:15-18, after that the tribe of Judah, its families and number, Nu 26:19-22 then follows the tribe of Issachar, its families and number, Nu 26:23-25, next to that the tribe of Zebulun, its families and number, Nu 26:26,27 then the sons of Joseph, and first Manasseh, his families and number, Nu 26:28-34 and then the tribe of Ephraim, its families and number, Nu 26:35-37, after that the tribe of Benjamin, its families and number, Nu 26:38-41 next the tribe of Dan, its families and number, Nu 26:42,43 and which is followed by the tribe of Asher, its families and number, Nu 26:44-47, and the muster is closed with the tribe of Naphtali, its families and number, Nu 26:48-50, and the sum total of all the numbers is given, Nu 26:51 and then follows another order to divide the land of Canaan by lot, when conquered, to the several tribes, according to their names and number, Nu 26:52-56 and an account is given of the number of the Levites and their families, their number being taken not with the other tribes, but by themselves, and which is summed up, Nu 26:57-62 and the chapter is concluded with observing, that it appeared upon this numbering of the people, that there were but two persons living of those that were first numbered among the children of Israel, Nu 26:63-65.