Numbers 1:26

לִבְנֵי יְהוּדָה תּוֹלְדֹתָם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לְבֵית אֲבֹתָם בְּמִסְפַּר שֵׁמֹת מִבֶּן עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וָמַעְלָה כֹּל יֹצֵא צָבָֽא׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

לִבְנֵ֣י יְהוּדָ֔ה תּוֹלְדֹתָ֥ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר שֵׁמֹ֗ת מִבֶּ֨ן עֶשְׂרִ֤ים שָׁנָה֙ וָמַ֔עְלָה כֹּ֖ל יֹצֵ֥א צָבָֽא׃

Greek (Septuagint)

Τοῖς υἱοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσσαχὰρ 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 filiis Juda per generationes et familias ac domos cognationum suarum, per nomina singulorum a vigesimo anno et supra, omnes qui poterant ad bella procedere,

Spanish

De los hijos de Judá, sus generaciones, por sus familias, por las casas de sus padres, según el número de los nombres, de veinte años para arriba, todos los que podían salir a la guerra:

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

De los hijos de Judá, por sus generaciones, por sus familias, por las casas de sus padres, conforme á la cuenta de los nombres, de veinte años arriba, todos los que podían salir á la guerra;

English

From the sons of Judah, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army,

✦ What the text says

Summary

Numbers 1:26 introduces the census entry for the tribe of Judah, specifying that the count is organized by genealogical lines, clans, and ancestral houses, tallied by name, and limited to males twenty years old and above who are fit to go out for military service.

Key words

v.Nei ("[the] descendants of", H1121G) — construct plural noun beginning the phrase "sons of Judah," marking the tribal unit under review.
tol.do.Ta ("genealogies", H8435) — feminine plural construct with pronominal suffix "their," indicating the genealogical records used to organize the count.
mis.Par ("[the] number of", H4557) — singular construct noun governing she.Mot ("names", H8034), showing the census proceeds by counting individual names, not just totals.
yo.Tze' ("[one who] goes forth", H3318N) — Qal participle construct, describing an ongoing capacity ("the one going out") rather than a completed action, qualifying who counts as eligible.
tza.Va' ("warfare", H6635H) — masculine singular noun specifying the purpose of eligibility: service in military activity.

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of construct phrases (noun + noun in genitive relation), each narrowing the scope of the census: "sons of Judah" → "their genealogies" → "to their clans" → "to the house of their fathers." This layered construct chain reflects a hierarchical structure — tribe, then genealogical line, then clan, then paternal house — through which the count of Judah's men is organized administratively.

The phrase be.mis.Par she.Mot ("by the number of names", H4557 + H8034) indicates that the census was conducted by recording individual names rather than a simple aggregate figure. The age threshold is expressed through mi.Ben 'es.Rim sha.Nah va.Ma'.lah — literally "from a son of twenty years and upward" — using the idiomatic Hebrew construction "son of [a number of] years" (H1121L) to denote age, followed by the directional suffix -ah (H9011) on Ma'.la ("up," H4605), which conveys the sense of extending upward without limit.

The final qualifier, kol yo.Tze' tza.Va' ("every one going out to warfare"), uses a Qal active participle (yo.Tze', H3318N) in construct with tza.Va' ("warfare", H6635H). The participle form expresses capacity or habitual readiness ("the one who goes out") rather than a single completed departure, framing eligibility as a functional category — those capable of military service — rather than a report of an event already occurring.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text (TAHOT) and the Vulgate both name "Judah" (Juda) as the tribe in question. The LXX text supplied here instead reads "sons of Issachar" (Ἰσσαχὰρ) at this position, differing from the Hebrew and Vulgate identification of the tribe. Additionally, where the Hebrew specifies counting "by number of names" (mis.Par she.Mot), the LXX adds "according to head" (κατὰ κεφαλὴν), an additional phrase not present in the Hebrew construct chain.

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