Numbers 1:36

לִבְנֵי בִנְיָמִן 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 בִנְיָמִ֔ן תּוֹלְדֹתָ֥ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר שֵׁמֹ֗ת מִבֶּ֨ן עֶשְׂרִ֤ים שָׁנָה֙ וָמַ֔עְלָה כֹּ֖ל יֹצֵ֥א צָבָֽא׃

Greek (Septuagint)

Τοῖς υἱοῖς Γὰδ κατὰ αυγγενίας 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 Benjamin per generationes et familias ac domos cognationum suarum recensiti sunt nominibus singulorum a vigesimo anno et supra, omnes qui poterant ad bella procedere,

Spanish

De los hijos de Benjamín, 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 Benjamín, 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 Benjamin, 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

This verse records the census formula for the tribe of Benjamin: the men are counted by their genealogies, clans, and ancestral houses, listing every male aged twenty years and up who was fit to go out to war.

Key words

tol.do.Ta(m) ("genealogies", H8435) — feminine plural construct with 3rd person masculine plural suffix, "their genealogies," beginning the chain of hierarchical groupings.
mish.pe.cho.Ta(m) ("clans", H4940) — feminine plural construct with suffix, "their clans," the second tier of social organization.
Veit 'a.vo.Ta(m) ("house of their ancestors", H1004M + H0001G) — masculine singular construct governing a feminine plural noun with suffix, "the house of their fathers," the smallest organizational unit named.
mis.Par she.Mot ("number of names", H4557 + H8034) — construct chain indicating the census was conducted "by count of names," i.e., an actual tally of individuals.
yo.Tze' tza.Va' ("one who goes forth to warfare", H3318N + H6635H) — a qal participle in construct with a noun, literally "goer-forth of an army/warfare," describing military eligibility as an ongoing capacity rather than a fixed title.

What the text says

The verse opens with li ("of/to", H9005) plus v.Nei Vin.ya.Min ("sons of Benjamin", H1121G + H1144G), marking the tribal heading with a preposition indicating "belonging to" or "concerning" this group. What follows is a stacked construct chain: "their genealogies, to their clans, to the house of their fathers" — each noun in construct state (tol.do.Ta, mish.pe.cho.Ta, Veit) links to the next, forming a nested hierarchy from broadest (genealogical line) to narrowest (ancestral household) social unit. This construct-chain structure is a common feature of the Numbers census lists, expressing subordination without needing separate connecting words beyond the repeated le ("to", H9005) prefix reintroducing each level.

The phrase mi.Ben 'es.Rim sha.Nah va.Ma'.lah ("from a son of twenty years and upward", H1121L + H6242 + H8141 + H9002 + H4605 + H9011) uses the idiom "son of X years" (Ben + number) to express age, with the directional he suffix on Ma'.lah ("-wards", H9011) indicating open-ended upward extension — "and beyond," with no set upper limit stated in the Hebrew. The closing phrase kol yo.Tze' tza.Va' ("every goer-forth of warfare", H3605 + H3318N + H6635H) uses a participle in construct, portraying military service as a capacity or role ("one who goes out") rather than a static classification, describing all males within the criteria as fit for that activity.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint text supplied here reads "sons of Gad" (Γὰδ) where the Hebrew and Vulgate read "sons of Benjamin" (Vin.ya.Min, H1144G). The LXX also renders mis.Par she.Mot ("number of names") together with an added phrase "according to head" (κατὰ κεφαλὴν), an expansion not present in the Hebrew construct chain. The Vulgate's "per generationes et familias ac domos cognationum suarum" collapses the three Hebrew construct nouns into a looser series of ablative phrases rather than preserving the strict nested construct structure of the Hebrew.

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