Numbers 1:18

וְאֵת כָּל־הָעֵדָה הִקְהִילוּ בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי וַיִּתְיַֽלְדוּ עַל־מִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לְבֵית אֲבֹתָם בְּמִסְפַּר שֵׁמוֹת מִבֶּן עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וָמַעְלָה לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָֽם׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וְאֵ֨ת כָּל־הָעֵדָ֜ה הִקְהִ֗ילוּ בְּאֶחָד֙ לַחֹ֣דֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִ֔י וַיִּתְיַֽלְד֥וּ עַל־מִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר שֵׁמ֗וֹת מִבֶּ֨ן עֶשְׂרִ֥ים שָׁנָ֛ה וָמַ֖עְלָה לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָֽם׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν συναγωγὴν συνήγαγον ἐν μιᾷ τοῦ μηνὸς τοῦ δευτέρου ἔτους, καὶ ἐπηξονοῦσαν κατὰ γενέσεις αὐτῶν, κατὰ πατριὰς αὐτῶν, κατὰ ἀριθμὸν ὀνομάτων αὐτῶν, ἀπὸ εἰκοσαετοῦς καὶ ἐπάνω, πᾶν ἀρσενικὸν κατὰ κεφαλὴν αὐτῶν,

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

et congregaverunt primo die mensis secundi, recensentes eos per cognationes, et domos, ac familias, et capita, et nomina singulorum a vigesimo anno et supra,

Spanish

Reunieron a toda la congregación el primer día del segundo mes, y registraron su descendencia por sus familias, por las casas de sus padres, según el número de los nombres, de veinte años en adelante, uno por uno.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y juntaron toda la congregación en el primero del mes segundo, y fueron reunidos sus linajes, por las casas de sus padres, según la cuenta de los nombres, de veinte años arriba, por sus cabezas,

English

and on the first day of the second month they assembled the whole congregation and recorded their ancestry by clans and families, counting one by one the names of those twenty years of age or older,

✦ What the text says

Summary

The verse describes the assembly of the whole congregation on the first day of the second month, and the registration of the people by genealogy — according to their clans, ancestral houses, and a count of names — including every male twenty years old and above, counted by head.

Key words

hikHilu ("they summoned/assembled", H6950) — hiphil perfect, causative form: the leaders caused the congregation to assemble; it is a completed, single action.
yityalDu ("they recorded their ancestry", H3205) — hithpael narrative form, reflexive/reciprocal in sense: the people declared or established their own genealogical descent, introduced by the narrative vav that continues the sequence of action.
mishpechoTam ("their clans", H4940) — feminine plural construct with pronominal suffix, marking the first organizing category ("clans of them") under which the registration proceeds.
beit 'avoTam ("house of their fathers", H1004 + H0001) — construct chain, a fixed genealogical term meaning "ancestral house," the second organizing category nested under clan.
gulgeloTam ("their heads/skulls", H1538) — feminine plural construct with suffix, a literal term for "heads," used idiomatically to mean individual persons counted one by one.

What the text says

The verse is built as a two-part narrative sequence joined by the narrative vav: first hikHilu ("they assembled") describes the gathering of kol ha'edah ("all the congregation", H3605 + H5712) on a specific date — be'echad lachodesh hasheni ("on the first of the second month"). Then vayyityalDu ("and they registered their descent") introduces the process of genealogical accounting, governed by a chain of prepositional phrases: 'al mishpechotam ("according to their clans"), lebeit avotam ("to the house of their fathers"), and bemispar shemot ("by the number of names"). This layered structure moves from the largest social unit (clan) to the smallest (individual name), culminating in the counting term legulgelotam ("by their heads"), a concrete, almost physical way of expressing "individually" or "one by one." The phrase miben 'esrim shanah vama'lah ("from a son of twenty years and upward") sets the numerical threshold for inclusion, using the idiom ben ("son of," H1121) to express age.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the phrase with the addition πᾶν ἀρσενικὸν ("every male") before "according to their head," a term not present in the Hebrew of this verse, though the male referent is implied by the wider census context. The LXX also specifies τοῦ δευτέρου ἔτους ("of the second year"), adding a temporal element ("year") that is not stated in the Hebrew, which mentions only "the second month" (chodesh hasheni). The Vulgate inserts capita ("heads") in a different position within its list ("per cognationes, et domos, ac familias, et capita, et nomina"), restructuring the Hebrew's sequential construct chain into a flatter list of parallel terms.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.