Numbers 4:40

Summary

This verse gives the total count of the men from the specific group (the Merarites' relatives context aside, this verse itself simply states a numeric result), organized by their clans and by their ancestral houses: two thousand six hundred thirty.

Key words

• pekudei ("enrolled [men]", H6485A) — qal passive participle, masculine plural construct: those who have been counted/mustered, grammatically linked to "them" (their suffix) and further to "clans."
• mishpechotam ("their clans", H4940) — feminine plural construct noun with pronominal suffix, marking the first level of family organization used for the census.
• beit avotam ("house of their ancestors", H1004M + H0001G) — construct chain (masculine singular + feminine plural with suffix) naming the second, broader organizational unit, the "ancestral house."
• alpayim ("two thousand", H0505G) — cardinal number in dual form, indicating the multiplication base (two units of "thousand").
• ve-shesh me'ot u-shloshim ("and six hundred and thirty", H8337 + H3967 + H7970) — a chain of cardinal numbers joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002), each attached to the mustering total.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative va-yihyu ("and they were", H1961), a qal verb marking sequence in the narration — it reports a resulting state ("they came to be" / "they numbered") following a preceding counting process. The subject of this verb is pekudeihem ("their enrolled [men]"), a passive participle construct that identifies the counted individuals as a defined group ("those enrolled of them"). This participle is further specified by two nested prepositional phrases using le ("to", H9005): first le-mishpechotam ("to their clans"), then le-veit avotam ("to the house of their ancestors"). This double specification shows the Hebrew census terminology organizing the group by two administrative levels — clan and ancestral house — rather than a single category.

The numeral sequence at the end — alpayim ("two thousand"), ve-shesh me'ot ("and six hundred"), u-shloshim ("and thirty") — builds the total by additive juxtaction of number words, each connected by the conjunction ve/u ("and"). The dual form of alpayim reflects the Hebrew practice of marking "two" units of "thousand" morphologically rather than through a separate numeral word.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text expresses the total as three separate number phrases ("two thousand and six hundred and thirty"), while the LXX (δισχίλιοι ἑξακόσιοι τριάκοντα) and the Vulgate (duo millia sexcenti triginta) render this as a continuous string of numerals without repeating a connecting conjunction between each unit, consistent with Greek and Latin numeral conventions. The LXX also renders pekudeihem ("their enrolled [men]") with the noun ἐπίσκειψις ("the numbering/review"), shifting from a participial construction naming the counted persons to an abstract noun naming the act of counting itself.