Numbers 26:62

Summary

The verse gives the total of those enrolled — 23,000 males one month old and above — and explains, in two parallel clauses introduced by ki ("for"), why this group was not counted among the general census of the Israelites and did not receive a landed inheritance among them.

Key words

• va-yihyu ("and they were", H1961) — narrative vav + qal verb, opening the clause as a continuation of the census account.
• pequdeihem ("their enrolled [men]", H6485A) — qal passive participle plural construct with pronominal suffix, marking these males as "the counted ones belonging to them."
• hotpaqedu ("they were enrolled", H6485A) — perfect form of a rare passive/reflexive stem, describing a completed act of registration distinct from the ordinary census.
• ki ("for", H3588A) — appears twice (once before hotpaqedu, once before nittan), each time introducing a causal clause explaining the preceding statement.
• nittan ("it was given", H5414G) — niphal perfect, a passive verb indicating that no agent gave them an inheritance, only that "it was not given."

What the text says

The sentence opens with the narrative formula va-yihyu ("and they were") followed by pequdeihem ("their enrolled men"), a construct passive participle that ties the number that follows — shelosha ve-esrim elef ("three and twenty thousand," i.e., 23,000) — directly to the group being described. The phrase kol-zakhar mi-ben-chodesh va-ma'lah ("every male from a son of a month and upward") specifies the age range using the construct ben-chodesh ("son of a month"), a common Hebrew idiom for "one month old."

The second half of the verse is built on two coordinated causal clauses, each introduced by ki ("for"). The first, lo hotpaqedu betokh benei Yisrael ("they were not enrolled among the sons of Israel"), uses the rare passive/reflexive verbal form hotpaqedu, distinguishing this group's enrollment from the general enrollment of "the sons of Israel." The second, lo nittan lahem nachalah betokh benei Yisrael ("no inheritance was given to them among the sons of Israel"), uses the niphal passive nittan, which states the outcome without naming who withholds the inheritance. The repetition of the phrase betokh benei Yisrael ("among the sons of Israel") at the end of both clauses creates a structural parallel, framing the group's separate enrollment and lack of inheritance as two aspects of the same status relative to "the sons of Israel."

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text does not name "Levites" in this verse; it refers only to pequdeihem ("their enrolled men"), relying on context from surrounding verses. The LXX likewise uses only a pronoun, ἐξ ἐπισκέψεως αὐτῶν ("from their numbering"), without naming the group. The Vulgate similarly reads omnes qui numerati sunt ("all who were numbered"). The English renderings BSB, RV1909, and SBLIBRE all insert "Levites" explicitly, a clarification not present in the Hebrew, LXX, or Vulgate wording of this specific verse.