Numbers 1:42
בְּנֵי נַפְתָּלִי תּוֹלְדֹתָם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם לְבֵית אֲבֹתָם בְּמִסְפַּר שֵׁמֹת מִבֶּן עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וָמַעְלָה כֹּל יֹצֵא צָבָֽא׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
Tap a word to see its entry
✦ The same verse in five languages
בְּנֵ֣י נַפְתָּלִ֔י תּוֹלְדֹתָ֥ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר שֵׁמֹ֗ת מִבֶּ֨ן עֶשְׂרִ֤ים שָׁנָה֙ וָמַ֔עְלָה כֹּ֖ל יֹצֵ֥א צָבָֽא׃
Τοῖς υἱοῖς Νεφθαλεὶ 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 τῆ δυνάμει·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
De filiis Nephthali per generationes et familias ac domos cognationum suarum recensiti sunt nominibus singulorum a vigesimo anno et supra, omnes qui poterant ad bella procedere,
De los hijos de Neftalí, 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 Nephtalí, 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;
From the sons of Naphtali, 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
The verse records the census entry for the tribe of Naphtali, listing the men counted by their genealogical descent, clans, and paternal houses, specifically those aged twenty years and above who were fit to go out for military service.
Key words
- be.Nei ("descendants of", H1121G) — masculine plural construct, opening the phrase as "sons/descendants of Naphtali," establishing the tribal identity being counted.
- tol.do.Tam ("their genealogies", H8435 + H9028) — feminine plural construct with pronominal suffix, indicating the line of descent traced for this tribe's census.
- mis.Par she.Mot ("number of names", H4557 + H8034) — construct chain meaning the counting method was by individual names, not merely tallying totals.
- Ben 'es.Rim sha.Nah ("son of twenty years", H1121L + H6242 + H8141) — construct phrase idiomatically expressing age; literally "a son of twenty years" denotes someone who is twenty years old.
- yo.Tze' tza.Va' ("one who goes forth to warfare", H3318N + H6635H) — qal participle in construct with a noun, describing an ongoing capacity or role: those able to go out for military service.
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence is built almost entirely through construct chains (the "X of Y" pattern), stacking genealogical categories: be.Nei Naftali ("descendants of Naphtali") is qualified by tol.do.Tam ("their genealogies"), then narrowed le.mishpechotam ("to their clans", H4940+H9028) and le.veit avotam ("to the house of their ancestors", H1004M+H1+H9028). This layered construct structure moves from the broadest tribal identity down to smaller family units before specifying the counting method: be.mispar shemot ("by the number of names"), meaning the census was conducted by recording individual names rather than aggregate numbers alone.
The age qualifier mi.ben 'esrim shanah va.ma'lah ("from a son of twenty years and upward") uses the idiom "son of [a number]" to express age, followed by the directional he suffix on ma'lah ("upward"), which grammatically marks direction or extension — here extending the age range indefinitely upward from twenty. The final phrase, kol yotze tzava ("everyone who goes forth to warfare"), employs a qal participle functioning almost like a noun in construct with tzava ("warfare"), describing a category of person defined by capacity for military action rather than a single completed action.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders yotze tzava ("one who goes forth to warfare") as ὁ ἐκπορευόμενος ἐν τῇ δυνάμει ("the one going forth in the army/power"), using δύναμις ("power/army") where the Hebrew has tzava ("warfare/army"). The LXX also adds κατὰ κεφαλὴν αὐτῶν ("according to their head[count]"), a phrase not present in the Hebrew construct chain. The Vulgate's "qui poterant ad bella procedere" ("who were able to proceed to wars") interprets the participle yotze as expressing capability ("were able to"), rendering an implied potential rather than the more direct Hebrew participial sense of one presently in the category of "goer-forth."
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.