Numbers 26:47

Summary

This verse closes the census list for the tribe of Asher, stating the total number of registered men. The Hebrew text gives the figure as 53,400 (fifty-three thousand four hundred).

Key words

• mishpechot ("clans of", H4940) — feminine plural construct noun, linking the following genitive ("of the sons of Asher") to identify which clans are being summarized.
• benei ("descendants of", H1121G) — masculine plural construct, forming the genitive chain "clans of the descendants of Asher."
• fekudei ("enrolled men", H6485A) — qal passive participle, plural construct; denotes those who have been counted/mustered, governed by the preposition li ("to/for", H9005) attached to it.
• shelosha ("three", H7969) and chamishim ("fifty", H2572) — cardinal numbers combined via the conjunction va ("and", H9002) to produce "fifty-three," modifying 'Elef ("thousand", H0505G).
• arba' ("four", H0702) — cardinal number in construct form governing me'ot ("hundreds", H3967), yielding "four hundred," added to the total by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002).

What the text says

The verse opens with the demonstrative 'Elleh ("these", H0428), which functions as a summarizing formula typical of the closing statements in the Numbers 26 census lists. It is followed by a construct chain: mishpechot benei 'Asher — "the clans of the descendants of Asher" — establishing the subject as the collective clan-groups belonging to the tribe of Asher. The prepositional phrase li-fekudeihem ("to/for their enrolled [men]") uses the passive participle fekudei with a third-person plural suffix ("their"), indicating that the number that follows refers specifically to the men who were counted in the census, not to the clans themselves as a count of groups.

The numerical expression is built compositionally: shelosha ("three") is joined by the conjunction va to chamishim ("fifty") to form "fifty-three," which modifies 'Elef ("thousand"). This is then joined by ve ("and") to a second numerical unit, arba' me'ot ("four hundred"), using the construct form of arba' governing the plural noun me'ot ("hundreds"). The total expressed by the Hebrew grammar is therefore 53,400.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (quinquaginta tria millia quadringenti, "fifty-three thousand four hundred") and the Spanish translations (RV1909, SBLIBRE, BSB with "53,400") match the Hebrew total. The LXX (Swete text), however, gives "τέσσαρες καὶ ἑξήκοντα χιλιάδες καὶ χ΄" — "sixty-four thousand and six hundred" (64,600), a numerical divergence from the Hebrew's 53,400. The LXX also renders the tribal name as "Σαμεὶ" rather than a transliteration corresponding to "Asher," differing from the Hebrew 'Asher (H0836).