Numbers 1:38

לִבְנֵי דָן 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 דָ֔ן תּוֹלְדֹתָ֥ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר שֵׁמֹ֗ת מִבֶּ֨ן עֶשְׂרִ֤ים שָׁנָה֙ וָמַ֔עְלָה כֹּ֖ל יֹצֵ֥א צָבָֽא׃

Greek (Septuagint)

Τοῖς υἱοῖς Δὰν κατὰ συγγενίας αὐτῶν, κατὰ δήμους αὐτῶν, κατ’ οἴκους πατριῶν σὐτῶν, 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 Dan 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 Dan, 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 Dan, 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 Dan, 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 1:38 records the census formula applied to the tribe of Dan: the descendants are counted according to their genealogies, clans, and ancestral houses, by the number of names, of every male twenty years old and up who is fit to go out to war.

Key words

v.Nei ("[the] descendants of", H1121G) — construct plural of "sons," linking the tribe name Dan to the census formula as its head noun.
tol.do.Ta ("genealogies", H8435) — feminine plural construct with pronominal suffix "their," indicating the genealogical records that structure the count.
mis.Par ("[the] number of", H4557) — singular construct governing she.Mot ("names", H8034), forming the phrase "by the number of names," the technical basis of the census.
yo.Tze' ("[one who] goes forth", H3318N) — Qal participle in construct, functioning substantivally as "the one who goes out," describing the class of men eligible for military service.
tza.Va' ("warfare", H6635H) — the noun completing the construct chain "goes forth to war/military service," specifying the purpose of the count.

What the text says

The verse is built entirely on construct chains (noun + noun in "X of Y" relationships), a hallmark of Hebrew genealogical and administrative lists. The chain moves from the general tribal identity (v.Nei Dan, "descendants of Dan") through successively narrower social units: tol.do.Ta-m ("their genealogies"), mishpe.cho.Ta-m ("their clans"), and Veit 'a.vo.Ta-m ("the house of their fathers/ancestors"). Each term is marked with the third-person masculine plural suffix -m ("their"), tying the structure back to the sons of Dan.

The counting criterion is introduced by be-mis.Par she.Mot ("by the number of names"), meaning the census proceeds name by name rather than as an anonymous tally. The age threshold is expressed idiomatically as mi-Ben 'es.Rim sha.Nah va-Ma'.lah ("from a son of twenty years and upward"), using Ben ("son of," H1121L) to express age, a common Hebrew construction where age is expressed as being "a son of" a certain number of years. The directional suffix -ah on Ma'.lah ("upward") indicates open-ended extension beyond the stated number.

The final qualification, kol yo.Tze' tza.Va' ("every one who goes out to military service"), uses a Qal active participle in construct form, meaning the phrase functions as a noun phrase: "the one going out to war" — describing an ongoing capacity or role rather than a single completed action.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders tza.Va' ("warfare", H6635H) with δυνάμει ("power/force"), and adds πάντα ἀρσενικά ("all males"), a specification not present as a separate word in the Hebrew construct chain, though implied by the census context. The Vulgate condenses the construct chain into "per generationes et familias ac domos cognationum suarum" and shifts mis.Par she.Mot ("number of names") into "recensiti sunt nominibus singulorum" ("they were counted by the names of each one"), rephrasing the noun phrase as a verbal clause.

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