Numbers 2:16
כָּֽל־הַפְּקֻדִים לְמַחֲנֵה רְאוּבֵן מְאַת אֶלֶף וְאֶחָד וַחֲמִשִּׁים אֶלֶף וְאַרְבַּע־מֵאוֹת וַחֲמִשִּׁים לְצִבְאֹתָם וּשְׁנִיִּם יִסָּֽעוּ׃ ס
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
כָּֽל־הַפְּקֻדִ֞ים לְמַחֲנֵ֣ה רְאוּבֵ֗ן מְאַ֨ת אֶ֜לֶף וְאֶחָ֨ד וַחֲמִשִּׁ֥ים אֶ֛לֶף וְאַרְבַּע־מֵא֥וֹת וַחֲמִשִּׁ֖ים לְצִבְאֹתָ֑ם וּשְׁנִיִּ֖ם יִסָּֽעוּ׃ ס
πάντες οἱ ἐπεσκεμμένοι ἐκ τῆς παρεμβολῆς Ῥουβὴν ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα μία χιλιάδες καὶ τετρακόσιοι καὶ πεντήκοντα, σὺν δυνάμει αὐτῶν· δεύτεροι ἐξαροῦσιν.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Omnes qui recensiti sunt in castris Ruben, centum quinquaginta millia et mille quadringenti quinquaginta per turmas suas: in secundo loco proficiscentur.
“Todos los contados del campamento de Rubén fueron ciento cincuenta y un mil cuatrocientos cincuenta, según sus ejércitos. Ellos marcharán en segundo lugar.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Todos los contados en el ejército de Rubén, ciento cincuenta y un mil cuatrocientos y cincuenta, por sus escuadrones, irán los segundos.
The total number of men in the divisions of the camp of Reuben is 151,450; they shall set out second.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Numbers 2:16 gives the total count of the men enrolled in the camp of Reuben — 151,450 — organized by their military divisions, and states that this camp will be the second to set out during the march of the Israelite camps.
Key words
- pekuDim ("enrolled", H6485A) — qal passive participle, masculine plural: those who have been counted/mustered, referring to the men already registered in the census.
- machaNeh ("[the] camp of", H4264) — feminine singular construct, linking directly to Reuven, marking this as "the camp belonging to Reuben" rather than a generic camp.
- tzivoTam ("their military groups", H6635A) — feminine plural construct with the 3rd person masculine plural suffix -m ("their"), indicating the organized units or divisions to which the total number applies.
- sheniYim ("second", H8145) — masculine plural ordinal number, describing the position of this camp in the sequence of departure.
- yissaU ("they will set out", H5265) — qal imperfect, third person masculine plural, denoting a future or ongoing action: the marching order.
What the text says
The verse opens with the construct chain kal-ha-pekuDim le-machaNeh Reuven ("all the enrolled of the camp of Reuben"), establishing the subject as the total counted population of this specific camp. The numeral phrase that follows is built additively: me'At 'Elef ("one hundred thousand"), ve-'eChad va-chamiShim 'Elef ("and one and fifty thousand"), ve-'arba'-me'Ot va-chamiShim ("and four hundred and fifty"), yielding the cumulative total of 151,450. This number is then qualified by the prepositional phrase le-tzivoTam ("according to their military groups"), indicating that the figure reflects the men organized into units rather than a raw headcount alone.
The final clause, u-sheniYim yissaU ("and second they will set out"), uses the ordinal sheniYim in the plural to agree with the collective camp as a group of people, and the verb yissaU is an imperfect form expressing the action of departing or setting out on the march, here indicating sequence within the larger arrangement of camps described in the chapter.
Differences between versions
The Vulgate reading (centum quinquaginta millia et mille quadringenti quinquaginta, "150,000 and 1,450") arrives at the same total of 151,450 but structures the number differently from the Hebrew's additive sequence of "100,000 + 51,000 + 450." The LXX (ἑκατὸν πεντήκοντα μία χιλιάδες καὶ τετρακόσιοι καὶ πεντήκοντα, "151 thousand and four hundred and fifty") follows a numeral grouping closer to the Hebrew's final sum but phrases "151" as a single unit rather than the Hebrew's separate "100,000" and "51,000" components.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.