Numbers 26:43

Summary

The verse closes the census record of the Shuhamite clan (part of the tribe of Dan), stating that all its clans, according to their registered/counted men, totaled sixty-four thousand four hundred.

Key words

• mishpechot ("clans of", H4940) — feminine plural construct noun, linking "clans" to the following gentilic name; marks the verse as a tribal/clan-based tally.
• ha-Shuchami ("the Shuhamite", H7749) — gentilic adjective with definite article, designating the clan descended from Shuham, a subgroup within the tribe of Dan.
• lifqudeihem ("to their enrolled [men]", H6485A) — qal passive participle, masculine plural construct, with 3rd person masculine plural suffix ("their"); indicates the men counted/mustered, functioning as the basis for the numerical total that follows.
• arba'ah ("four", H0702) and shishim ("sixty", H8346) — cardinal numbers combined to form "sixty-four," modifying 'elef ("thousand", H0505G).
• me'ot ("hundreds", H3967) — feminine plural cardinal number, completing the total as "four hundred" after arba' ("four", H0702).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a summary formula typical of the Numbers 26 census: kol ("all", H3605) governs mishpechot ha-Shuchami ("clans of the Shuhamite"), identifying the totality of clans belonging to this one gentilic subgroup. The phrase lifqudeihem uses the preposition le ("to/according to") plus the passive participle fequdim ("enrolled ones"), a technical census term meaning "according to their numbered/mustered men" — the participle form implies these are men who have undergone an official count, not merely counted incidentally.

The numeral sequence arba'ah ve-shishim elef ve-arba' me'ot ("four and sixty thousand and four hundred") follows Hebrew numeral syntax, where smaller units (four) precede the larger unit word (sixty, then thousand), joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002) repeatedly. This yields the total of 64,400, presented as the sum for the Shuhamite clan specifically, distinct from other Danite clan totals mentioned earlier in the chapter.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (Omnes fuere Suhamitæ) and Hebrew both preserve the clan-name structure and matching numeral total (64,400). The LXX excerpt provided (τῷ Σωφάν, δῆμος ὁ Σωφανεί) renders the gentilic differently, using "Sophan/Sophanei" instead of "Shuhamite," reflecting a variant transliteration of the underlying name rather than a numerical divergence. The BSB adds an editorial subheading ("The Tribe of Asher") not present in the Hebrew text itself, marking a structural transition for readability rather than translating additional Hebrew content.