Numbers 1:20

וַיִּהְיוּ בְנֵֽי־רְאוּבֵן בְּכֹר יִשְׂרָאֵל תּוֹלְדֹתָם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לְבֵית אֲבֹתָם בְּמִסְפַּר שֵׁמוֹת לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָם כָּל־זָכָר מִבֶּן עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וָמַעְלָה כֹּל יֹצֵא צָבָֽא׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וַיִּהְי֤וּ בְנֵֽי־רְאוּבֵן֙ בְּכֹ֣ר יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל תּוֹלְדֹתָ֥ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם בְּמִסְפַּ֤ר שֵׁמוֹת֙ לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָ֔ם כָּל־זָכָ֗ר מִבֶּ֨ן עֶשְׂרִ֤ים שָׁנָה֙ וָמַ֔עְלָה כֹּ֖ל יֹצֵ֥א צָבָֽא׃

Greek (Septuagint)

Καὶ ἐγένοντο οἱ υἱοὶ Ῥουβὴν πρωτοτόκου Ἰσραὴλ κατὰ συγγενίας αὐτῶν, κατὰ δήμους αὐτῶν, κατ’ οἴκους πατριῶν αὐτῶν, κατὰ ἀριθμὸν ὀνομάτων αὐτῶν, κατὰ κεφαλὴν αὐτῶν, πάντα ἀρσενικὰ ἀπὸ εἰκοσαετοῦς καὶ ἐπάνω, πᾶς ὁ ἐκπορευόμενος ἐν τῇ δυνάμει·

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

Latin (Vulgate)

De Ruben primogenito Israëlis per generationes et familias ac domos suas, et nomina capitum singulorum, omne quod sexus est masculini a vigesimo anno et supra, procedentium ad bellum,

Spanish

Los hijos de Rubén, primogénito de Israel, sus generaciones, por sus familias, por las casas de sus padres, según el número de los nombres, uno por uno, todo varón de veinte años para arriba, todos los que podían salir a la guerra:

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y los hijos de Rubén, primogénito de Israel, por sus generaciones, por sus familias, por las casas de sus padres, conforme á la cuenta de los nombres por sus cabezas, todos los varones de veinte años arriba, todos los que podían salir á la guerra;

English

From the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, according to the records of their clans and families, counting one by one the names of every male twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army,

✦ What the text says

Summary

The verse opens the census record for the tribe of Reuben, identified as the firstborn of Israel. It specifies that the count is organized by genealogical lines, clans, and ancestral houses, and covers every male twenty years old and above who is fit to go out for military service.

Key words

bekhor ("firstborn of", H1060) — masculine singular construct noun, linking Reuben directly to his status relative to Israel, forming a construct chain "firstborn of Israel."
toledotam ("their genealogies", H8435) — feminine plural construct noun with 3rd person masculine plural suffix "their," beginning a series of nested construct phrases that organize the census by descent.
mispar ("the number of", H4557) — masculine singular construct noun governing "names," indicating that the count proceeds according to a tally of names.
gulgelotam ("their heads", H1538) — feminine plural construct noun with pronominal suffix, literally "skulls/heads," used idiomatically for counting individuals one by one.
yotze' ("[one who] goes forth", H3318N) — qal participle masculine singular construct, describing an ongoing characteristic action ("the one going out") rather than a completed event, modifying "every" in the phrase "everyone going out to war."

What the text says

The verse is built as a long construct chain rather than a series of independent clauses. After the narrative verb va-yihyu ("and they were", H1961+H9001) introduces the subject benei-Re'uven ("sons of Reuben", H1121G), the text piles up construct phrases: "firstborn of Israel," "their genealogies," "to their clans," "to the house of their fathers," "by the number of names," "to their heads." Each construct noun (bekhor, toledotam, mispar, gulgelotam, etc.) links to the next noun it governs, producing a cascading specification of how the census categories nest inside one another — genealogy within clan, clan within ancestral house, and finally reduced to a headcount of named individuals.

The final qualifying clause, kol-zakhar mi-ben esrim shanah va-ma'lah kol yotze tzava ("every male from a son of twenty years and up, everyone going out to war"), uses the idiom ben + number ("son of [age]", H1121L) to express age, and the participle yotze (H3318N) to describe a durative quality — capacity for military service — rather than a single act of departure. The construct form of yotze ("goes forth of") ties it grammatically to tzava ("warfare", H6635H), producing the technical phrase for combat-eligible personnel.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders gulgelotam ("their heads", H1538) as κατὰ κεφαλὴν αὐτῶν ("according to their head"), using a singular collective form where the Hebrew has a plural noun with plural suffix. The Vulgate omits an equivalent for va-yihyu ("and they were", H1961) and benei-Re'uven as a separate clause, instead opening with "De Ruben primogenito Israëlis" ("Concerning Ruben, firstborn of Israel"), reframing the verse as a heading rather than a full narrative sentence as the Hebrew presents it.

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