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Numbers 26:57–62 — The Levites Numbered. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

Levi was God's tribe; therefore it was not numbered with the rest, but alone. It came not under the sentence, that none of them should enter Canaan excepting Caleb and Joshua.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

The enumeration of the different Levitical families into which the three leading families of Levi, that were founded by his three sons Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, were divided, is not complete, but is broken off in Numbers 26:58 after the notice of five different families, for the purpose of tracing once more the descent of Moses and Aaron, the heads not of this tribe only, but of the whole nation

K&D's overview of the whole sub-unit; quoted here at its head.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and CollegesCommentary1880s

The census of the Levites. They were numbered separately from the secular tribes, because they were not, as a tribe, to possess any land.

Excerpted from the note on 57–62.

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Now these were the Levites numbered by their clans: The Gershonite clan from Gershon, the Kohathite clan from Kohath, and the Merarite clan from Merari.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·’êl·leh hal·lê·wî p̄ə·qū·ḏê lə·miš·pə·ḥō·ṯām hag·gê·rə·šun·nî miš·pa·ḥaṯ lə·ḡê·rə·šō·wn haq·qə·hā·ṯî miš·pa·ḥaṯ liq·hāṯ ham·mə·rā·rî miš·pa·ḥaṯ lim·rā·rî

Word by word13 · parsed

וְאֵ֨לֶּהwə·’êl·lehNow theseH428

√ ʼêl-leh — these or thoseConjunctive wawPronouncommon plural

הַלֵּוִי֮hal·lê·wîwere the LevitesH3881

√ Lêvîyîy — a Levite or descendant of LeviArticleNounpropermasculine singular

הַלֵּוִי — “the Levite,” a collective singular with the article: the tribe taken as one body. Levi was God's tribe, set apart for service rather than territory; the article marks it off from the secular tribes already counted.

פְקוּדֵ֣יp̄ə·qū·ḏênumberedH6485

√ pâqad — to visit (with friendly or hostile intent)VerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine plural construct

פְקוּדֵי — Qal passive participle of pāqad, “to visit, muster, call to account.” The same root opens v. 62 and frames the whole chapter: Israel is a people God personally reviews.

לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם֒lə·miš·pə·ḥō·ṯāmby their clansH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iPreposition-lNounfeminine plural constructthird person masculine plural

A function word: “by their clans” — the organizing grid of the census, mishpāḥâ.

הַגֵּ֣רְשֻׁנִּ֔יhag·gê·rə·šun·nîThe GershoniteH1649

√ Gêrᵉshunnîy — a Gereshonite or descendant of GereshonArticleNounpropermasculine singular

מִשְׁפַּ֙חַת֙miš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct

לְגֵרְשׁ֗וֹןlə·ḡê·rə·šō·wnfrom GershonH1648

√ Gêrᵉshôwn — Gereshon or Gereshom, an IsraelitePreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

הַקְּהָתִ֑יhaq·qə·hā·ṯîthe KohathiteH6956

√ Qŏhâthîy — a Kohathite (collectively) or descendants of KehathArticleNounpropermasculine singular

מִשְׁפַּ֖חַתmiš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct

לִקְהָ֕תliq·hāṯfrom KohathH6955

√ Qᵉhâth — Kehath, an IsraelitePreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

הַמְּרָרִֽי׃ham·mə·rā·rîand the MerariteH4848

√ Mᵉrârîy — a Merarite (collectively), or decendants of MerariArticleNounpropermasculine singular

הַמְּרָרִי — the Merarite, third of Levi's three sons. Gershon, Kohath, Merari are the load-bearing pillars of the tribe; from these three the Tabernacle's transport was divided (Numbers 3–4).

מִשְׁפַּ֖חַתmiš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct

לִמְרָרִ֕יlim·rā·rîfrom MerariH4847

√ Mᵉrârîy — Merari, an IsraelitePreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-these [are] the-Levite, those-mustered by-their-clans: the-Gershonite — clan of-Gershon; the-Kohathite — clan of-Kohath; the-Merarite — clan of-Merari.”

Where the English smooths the original

פְקוּדֵ֣י The participle is פְקוּדֵי (pəqūḏê, root pāqad) — a mustering with the soldier's sense of being visited, reviewed, called to account. “Numbered” is too neutral; the verb names an act of inspection by a superior.
לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָםג Hebrew has the single word לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָם, “by-their-clans” — mishpāḥâ, the extended kin-group, not the household. “Clans” is right, but the term is the structural unit of the whole census, repeated like a drumbeat down the verse.
הַגֵּ֣רְשֻׁנִּה The Hebrew runs gentilic then name: “the-Gershonite, clan of-Gershon” — הַגֵּרְשֻׁנִּי back to לְגֵרְשׁוֹן. The clan is named first, the founder second; English smooths the deliberate echo of son-to-family.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

The families of the Levites are here numbered by themselves, because they were not to have a distinct share of the land, whence it is that they are not so distinctly and exactly mentioned as the other tribes, but confusedly and imperfectly, some of them being wholly omitted here.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

The Libnites were Gershonites ( Numbers 3:21 ), the Hebronites and Korathites (or Korahites) were Kohathites ( Numbers 3:19 ; Numbers 16:1 ), the Mahlites and Mushites were Merarites ( Numbers 3:33 ).

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and CollegesCommentary1880s

The verse appears to be separate from Numbers 26:57 , and to be derived from a different source.

A source-critical observation, recorded as the voice's own claim.

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These were the families of the Levites: The Libnite clan, the Hebronite clan, the Mahlite clan, the Mushite clan, and the Korahite clan. Now Kohath was the father of Amram,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

’êl·leh miš·pə·ḥōṯ lê·wî hal·liḇ·nî miš·pa·ḥaṯ ha·ḥeḇ·rō·nî miš·pa·ḥaṯ ham·maḥ·lî miš·pa·ḥaṯ ham·mū·šî miš·pa·ḥaṯ haq·qā·rə·ḥî miš·pa·ḥaṯ ū·qə·hāṯ hō·w·liḏ ’eṯ- ‘am·rām

Word by word17 · parsed

אֵ֣לֶּה׀’êl·lehThese [were]H428

√ ʼêl-leh — these or thosePronouncommon plural

מִשְׁפְּחֹ֣תmiš·pə·ḥōṯthe familiesH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine plural construct

לֵוִ֗יlê·wîof the LevitesH3878

√ Lêvîy — Levi, a son of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

לֵוִי — Levi himself, the patriarch (not the gentilic of v. 57). The eponymous ancestor is named to anchor the five branch-clans to the one trunk.

הַלִּבְנִ֜יhal·liḇ·nîThe LibniteH3846

√ Libnîy — a Libnite or descendants of Libni (collectively)ArticleNounpropermasculine singular

מִשְׁפַּ֨חַתmiš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct

הַֽחֶבְרֹנִי֙ha·ḥeḇ·rō·nîthe HebroniteH2276

√ Chebrôwnîy — Chebronite (collectively), an inhabitant of ChebronArticleNounpropermasculine singular

מִשְׁפַּ֤חַתmiš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct

הַמַּחְלִי֙ham·maḥ·lîthe MahliteH4250

√ Machlîy — a Machlite or (collectively) descendants of MachliArticleNounpropermasculine singular

מִשְׁפַּ֤חַתmiš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct

הַמּוּשִׁ֔יham·mū·šîthe MushiteH4188

√ Mûwshîy — a Mushite (collectively) or descendants of MushiArticleNounpropermasculine singular

מִשְׁפַּ֣חַתmiš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct

הַקָּרְחִ֑יhaq·qā·rə·ḥîand the KorahiteH7145

√ Qorchîy — a Korchite (collectively) or descendants of KorachArticleNounpropermasculine singular

הַקָּרְחִי — the Korahite. A Kohathite line (Numbers 16:1; Exodus 6:21,24). Numbers 26:11 has already noted that “the sons of Korah did not die”; here that mercy is made visible — a surviving, counted clan that later sings (the Korahite psalms, e.g. Psalm 42–49).

מִשְׁפַּ֖חַתmiš·pa·ḥaṯclanH4940

√ mishpâchâh — a family, iNounfeminine singular construct

וּקְהָ֖תū·qə·hāṯNow KohathH6955

√ Qᵉhâth — Kehath, an IsraeliteConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

וּקְהָת — “and Kohath.” The waw pivots from the clan-roster into a focused genealogy: of all five clans, only Kohath's line is traced down, because Moses and Aaron come from it.

הוֹלִ֥דhō·w·liḏwas the father ofH3205

√ yâlad — to bear youngVerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singular

הוֹלִד — Hifil perfect of yālaḏ, “begot.” On the difficulty that the Amram here cannot be the literal son of Kohath (the generations are too few for 430 years in Egypt), see Keil and Ellicott below.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

עַמְרָֽם׃‘am·rāmAmramH6019

√ ʻAmrâm — Amram, the name of two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

עַמְרָם — Amram, father of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. The whole apparatus of priest, prophet, and lawgiver springs from this one name in a census list.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“These [are] the-clans of-Levi: the-Libnite clan, the-Hebronite clan, the-Mahlite clan, the-Mushite clan, the-Korahite clan. And-Kohath begot Amram.”

Where the English smooths the original

הַקָּרְחִב The list ends on הַקָּרְחִי, “the Korahite” — the clan of Korah, whose rebellion split the earth ten chapters back (Numbers 16). The English “Korahite clan” says nothing of the weight that name carries; the line that swallowed its founder still stands and is counted.
הוֹלִ֥ד הוֹלִד is the Hifil of yālaḏ, a causative: “caused-to-be-born,” i.e. “begot/fathered.” The BSB's “was the father of” is accurate but flattens the active begetting-verb that drives every genealogy.
מִשְׁפְּחֹ֣ת מִשְׁפְּחֹת — “clans of” — is a construct plural; the verse heads the list with the genus (“these are the clans of Levi”) before naming the five species. English renders it as a flat label and loses the taxonomic move.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

whom her mother bare - literally, "whom she bare;" the subject is wanting, and the verb is in the feminine gender. The words "her mother" are merely conjectural. The text is probably imperfect.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

Her mother, to wit, Levi’s wife, which must necessarily be understood.

Poole supplies the missing subject; set against Barnes and Keil, who refuse to.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

It cannot be Levi's wife, as Jarchi, Abenezra, and others suppose; for Jochebed, the mother of Moses, was not a daughter of Levi in the strict sense of the word, but only a Levitess or descendant of Levi, who lived about 300 years after Levi

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

Some writers have supposed that Jochebed was the granddaughter, or possibly even some more remote descendant of Levi, and that Amram, the father of Moses, was not the same as Amram, the son of Kohath.

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and Amram’s wife was named Jochebed. She was also a daughter of Levi, born to Levi in Egypt. To Amram she bore Aaron, Moses, and their sister Miriam.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

‘am·rām ’ê·šeṯ wə·šêm yō·w·ḵe·ḇeḏ baṯ- lê·wî ’ă·šer yā·lə·ḏāh ’ō·ṯāh lə·lê·wî bə·miṣ·rā·yim lə·‘am·rām wat·tê·leḏ ’eṯ- ’a·hă·rōn wə·’eṯ- mō·šeh wə·’êṯ ’ă·ḥō·ṯām mir·yām

Word by word20 · parsed

עַמְרָ֗ם‘am·rāmand Amram’sH6019

√ ʻAmrâm — Amram, the name of two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

אֵ֣שֶׁת’ê·šeṯwifeH802

√ ʼishshâh — a womanNounfeminine singular construct

וְשֵׁ֣ם׀wə·šêmwas namedH8034

√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityConjunctive wawNounmasculine singular construct

יוֹכֶ֙בֶד֙yō·w·ḵe·ḇeḏJochebedH3115

√ Yôwkebed — Jokebed, the mother of MosesNounproperfeminine singular

יוֹכֶבֶד — Jochebed, “YHWH is glory.” Her name carries the divine name into the family of the deliverer before Moses is even born; she is the only woman in the muster named with a genealogy.

בַּת־baṯ-She was also a daughterH1323

√ bath — a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and figuratively)Nounfeminine singular construct

בַּת־לֵוִי — “daughter of Levi.” Taken strictly with Exodus 6:20 (Amram married “his father's sister”), this makes Jochebed Kohath's sister and Amram's aunt — a marriage later forbidden (Leviticus 18:12). The plain sense and the chronology pull against each other; the commentators feel the strain.

לֵוִ֔יlê·wîof LeviH3878

√ Lêvîy — Levi, a son of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

אֲשֶׁ֨ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

יָלְדָ֥הyā·lə·ḏāhbornH3205

√ yâlad — to bear youngVerbQalPerfectthird person feminine singular

יָלְדָה — Qal perfect 3 f.sg., “she bore,” but with an unexpressed subject. Barnes calls the text “probably imperfect”; Poole supplies “Levi's wife”; the LXX rewrites it. The honest reading leaves the subject a genuine gap.

אֹתָ֛הּ’ō·ṯāhH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object markerthird person feminine singular

לְלֵוִ֖יlə·lê·wîto LeviH3878

√ Lêvîy — Levi, a son of JacobPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

בְּמִצְרָ֑יִםbə·miṣ·rā·yimin EgyptH4714

√ Mitsrayim — Mitsrajim, iPreposition-bNounproperfeminine singular

לְעַמְרָ֗םlə·‘am·rāmTo AmramH6019

√ ʻAmrâm — Amram, the name of two IsraelitesPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

וַתֵּ֣לֶדwat·tê·leḏshe boreH3205

√ yâlad — to bear youngConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person feminine singular

אֶֽת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

אַהֲרֹן֙’a·hă·rōnAaronH175

√ ʼAhărôwn — Aharon, the brother of MosesNounpropermasculine singular

אַהֲרֹן — Aaron, named first as the firstborn and head of the priesthood, though Moses is the greater prophet. Birth-order, not rank, governs the list.

וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

מֹשֶׁ֔הmō·šehMosesH4872

√ Môsheh — Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiverNounpropermasculine singular

מֹשֶׁה — Moses, the lawgiver, set in the middle: a single census entry holds the entire mediatorial line of Israel — prophet, priest, and the sister who watched the basket (Exodus 2:4).

וְאֵ֖תwə·’êṯH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

אֲחֹתָֽם׃’ă·ḥō·ṯāmand their sisterH269

√ ʼâchôwth — a sister (used very widely (like brother), literally and figuratively)Nounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine plural

מִרְיָ֥םmir·yāmMiriamH4813

√ Miryâm — Mirjam, the name of two IsraelitessesNounproperfeminine singular

מִרְיָם — Miriam, the only sister recorded; her inclusion in a male muster-list is itself notable, a flag that the family, not the fighting-force, is in view here.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-the-name-of Amram's wife [was] Jochebed, daughter-of Levi, whom she-bore to-Levi in-Egypt; and-she-bore to-Amram Aaron and Moses and-their-sister Miriam.”

Where the English smooths the original

יָלְדָ֥ה The verb יָלְדָה (“she bore”) has no stated subject — literally “whom she bore to Levi.” The BSB's “born to Levi” quietly supplies what the Hebrew leaves open; the ancient versions and commentators differ on who “she” is (see voices). The text is grammatically incomplete.
בַּת־ בַּת, “daughter of,” is used in the wide Hebrew sense of descendant, not necessarily first-generation child. Calling Jochebed “daughter of Levi” need mean only that she was a Levitess — the very ambiguity Keil presses against the literal reading.
אֲחֹתָֽם אֲחֹתָם — “their sister” (with masc.-pl. suffix), Miriam named after the brothers and defined in relation to them. The BSB keeps the order; worth marking that the prophetess (Exodus 15:20) appears here only as a name in a list, her office unmentioned.

Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar were born to Aaron,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

nā·ḏāḇ wə·’eṯ- ’ă·ḇî·hū ’eṯ- ’el·‘ā·zār wə·’eṯ- ’î·ṯā·mār way·yiw·wā·lêḏ lə·’a·hă·rōn ’eṯ-

Word by word10 · parsed

נָדָ֖בnā·ḏāḇNadabH5070

√ Nâdâb — Nadab, the name of four IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

נָדָב — Nadab, the firstborn. Named first in honor, named first again in v. 61 in judgment. The roster of the priestly house is also the roster of its tragedy.

וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

אֲבִיה֑וּא’ă·ḇî·hūAbihuH30

√ ʼĂbîyhûwʼ — Abihu, a son of AaronNounpropermasculine singular

אֲבִיהוּא — Abihu (“he is my father”). With Nadab he ascended Sinai and saw God (Exodus 24:1,9) — a height that makes the fall of v. 61 the sharper.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

אֶלְעָזָ֖ר’el·‘ā·zārEleazarH499

√ ʼElʻâzâr — Elazar, the name of seven IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

אֶלְעָזָר — Eleazar, who succeeds to the high priesthood (Numbers 20:25–28) and stands beside Joshua in the very land-division this census prepares (Numbers 34:17).

וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

אִיתָמָֽר׃’î·ṯā·mārand IthamarH385

√ ʼÎythâmâr — Ithamar, a son of AaronNounpropermasculine singular

אִיתָמָר — Ithamar, the youngest, over whom the Merarite and Gershonite service was placed (Numbers 4:28,33). The two surviving sons carry the whole priesthood forward.

וַיִּוָּלֵ֣דway·yiw·wā·lêḏwere bornH3205

√ yâlad — to bear youngConjunctive wawVerbNifalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

וַיִּוָּלֵד — Niphal consecutive imperfect of yālaḏ, “and he was born.” The passive shifts the agency off Aaron and onto the gift of offspring itself.

לְאַהֲרֹ֔ןlə·’a·hă·rōnto AaronH175

√ ʼAhărôwn — Aharon, the brother of MosesPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

but Nadab and Abihu died when they offered unauthorized fire before the LORD.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

nā·ḏāḇ wa·’ă·ḇî·hū way·yā·māṯ bə·haq·rî·ḇām zā·rāh ’êš- lip̄·nê Yah·weh

Word by word8 · parsed

נָדָ֖בnā·ḏāḇbut NadabH5070

√ Nâdâb — Nadab, the name of four IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular

וַאֲבִיה֑וּאwa·’ă·ḇî·hūand AbihuH30

√ ʼĂbîyhûwʼ — Abihu, a son of AaronConjunctive wawNounpropermasculine singular

וַיָּ֥מָתway·yā·māṯdiedH4191

√ mûwth — to die (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular

וַיָּמָת — mûṯ, “died,” the same blunt verb God used of Moses (Joshua 1:2). Here it falls on the young in mid-ministry; the census that records life also records the cost of careless holiness.

בְּהַקְרִיבָ֥םbə·haq·rî·ḇāmwhen they offeredH7126

√ qârab — to approach (causatively, bring near) for whatever purposePreposition-bVerbHifilInfinitive constructthird person masculine plural

בְּהַקְרִיבָם — “in their bringing-near.” The infinitive construct turns the offering into the very occasion of the death; nearness to God, wrongly handled, is lethal (cf. Leviticus 10:3, “I will be sanctified in those who come near me”).

זָרָ֖הzā·rāhunauthorizedH2114

√ zûwr — to turn aside (especially for lodging)Adjectivefeminine singular

זָרָה — “strange,” feminine to agree with “fire.” The root zūr elsewhere names the foreigner and the adulterous “strange woman” (Proverbs 5:3); applied to worship it brands the fire as not-belonging, an intrusion of the self-chosen into the LORD's prescribed approach.

אֵשׁ־’êš-fireH784

√ ʼêsh — fire (literally or figuratively)Nouncommon singular

אֵשׁ־ — fire. The element of God's own glory (Leviticus 9:24, fire “came out from before the LORD”) becomes, when counterfeited, the instrument of judgment (Leviticus 10:2, fire “came out from the LORD and consumed them”). Same fire, opposite ends.

לִפְנֵ֥יlip̄·nêbeforeH6440

√ pânîym — the face (as the part that turns)Preposition-lNouncommon plural construct

יְהוָֽה׃Yah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

יְהוָה — the covenant name. The offense is measured by the One offended: not a rule broken in the abstract but fire brought “before YHWH” Himself.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-Nadab and-Abihu died when-they-brought-near strange fire before YHWH.”

Where the English smooths the original

זָרָ֣ה זָרָה (root zūr) is “strange / foreign / unauthorized” — fire that did not belong, fire God “had not commanded them” (Leviticus 10:1). The BSB's “unauthorized” is a fair gloss, but the Hebrew word's first sense is alien: this was outsider-fire intruded into the holy.
בְּהַקְרִיבָ֥ם בְּהַקְרִיבָם is an infinitive of qāraḇ in Hifil — “in-their-bringing-near,” the cultic verb for offering. The very act of approach (qorban, “offering,” is from this root) became the act of death; the BSB's “when they offered” catches the sense but not the irony of the drawing-near.
לִפְנֵ֥י לִפְנֵי, “before / to-the-face-of” (from pānîm, “face”). They died not at a distance but to the face of YHWH; the rendering “before the LORD” loses the bodily image of presence that makes the trespass so grave.

The Voices✦ 4 public domain

Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

The total number of male Levites, 23,000, shows an increase of 1,000 on the number at Sinai Numbers 3:39 . It is doubtless to be taken as a round number; and, as before, includes the male children from a month old and upward, as well as the male adults.

source ↗

The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

The smallness of the increase in a tribe which was excepted from the general doom at Kadesh, and which in other ways was so favourably situated, seems to point to some considerable losses. It is possible that portions of the tribe suffered severely for their share in the rebellion of Korah

source ↗

Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

The Levites were not mustered along with the rest of the tribes of Israel, because the mustering took place with especial reference to the conquest of Canaan, and the Levites were not to receive any territory as a tribe (see at Numbers 18:20 ).

source ↗

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

twenty and three thousand—so that there was an increase of a thousand (Nu 3:39). males from a month old and upward

JFB ties the figure straight to the Sinai count; the one voice in this unit drawn from the Critical and Explanatory Commentary.

source ↗

The registration of the Levites totaled 23,000, every male a month old or more; they were not numbered among the other Israelites, because no inheritance was given to them among the Israelites.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

p̄ə·qu·ḏê·hem way·yih·yū šə·lō·šāh wə·‘eś·rîm ’e·lep̄ kāl- zā·ḵār ḥō·ḏeš mib·ben- wā·mā·‘ə·lāh kî lō hā·ṯə·pā·qə·ḏū bə·ṯō·wḵ bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl kî lō- na·ḥă·lāh nit·tan lā·hem bə·ṯō·wḵ bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl

Word by word24 · parsed

פְקֻדֵיהֶ֗םp̄ə·qu·ḏê·hemThe registration [of the Levites]H6485

√ pâqad — to visit (with friendly or hostile intent)VerbQalQalPassParticiplemasculine plural constructthird person masculine plural

פְקֻדֵיהֶם — “their mustered ones,” the participle of pāqad closing the bracket opened in v. 57. The sub-unit is framed front and back by the muster-verb.

וַיִּהְי֣וּway·yih·yūtotaledH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

שְׁלֹשָׁ֤הšə·lō·šāh23,000 {}H7969

√ shâlôwsh — threeNumbermasculine singular

The total שְׁלֹשָׁה וְעֶשְׂרִים אֶלֶף — 23,000 — is up 1,000 from the 22,000 at Sinai (Numbers 3:39). A round figure, smaller in growth than the favored, plague-spared tribe might suggest; the Pulpit Commentary reads losses behind it (perhaps Korah's).

וְעֶשְׂרִים֙wə·‘eś·rîm. . .H6242

√ ʻesrîym — twentyConjunctive wawNumbercommon plural

אֶ֔לֶף’e·lep̄. . .H505

√ ʼeleph — hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alphabet, and this eventually used as a numeral) a thousandNumbermasculine singular

כָּל־kāl-everyH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

זָכָ֖רzā·ḵārmaleH2145

√ zâkâr — properly, remembered, iNounmasculine singular

זָכָר — “male,” from the root that also means “to remember.” Every male child counted, the tribe's whole future numbered before God.

חֹ֣דֶשׁḥō·ḏeša monthH2320

√ chôdesh — the new moonNounmasculine singular

מִבֶּן־mib·ben-oldH1121

√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcPreposition-mNounmasculine singular construct

וָמָ֑עְלָהwā·mā·‘ə·lāhor moreH4605

√ maʻal — properly, the upper part, used only adverbially with prefix upward, above, overhead, from the top, etcConjunctive wawAdverbthird person feminine singular

כִּ֣י׀kîH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

לֹ֣אlōthey were notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

הָתְפָּקְד֗וּhā·ṯə·pā·qə·ḏūnumberedH6485

√ pâqad — to visit (with friendly or hostile intent)VerbHitpaelPerfectthird person common plural

הָתְפָּקְדוּ — Hitpael of pāqad; the only finite Hitpael of this verb in the chapter, marking the Levites' deliberate exclusion from the conscription-count.

בְּתוֹךְ֙bə·ṯō·wḵamongH8432

√ tâvek — a bisection, iPreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

בְּנֵ֣יbə·nêthe other IsraelitesH1121

√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct

יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לyiś·rā·’êl. . .H3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

כִּ֠יkîbecauseH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

לֹא־lō-noH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

נַחֲלָ֔הna·ḥă·lāhinheritanceH5159

√ nachălâh — properly, something inherited, iNounfeminine singular

נַחֲלָה — “inheritance.” The clause states the reason for the separate census: no land-allotment, therefore no place in the land-distributing muster. The exclusion is theological, not punitive.

נִתַּ֤ןnit·tanwas givenH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbNifalPerfectthird person masculine singular

נִתַּן — Niphal of nāṯan, “was given.” The passive leaves the Giver unnamed but unmistakable: it is the LORD who withheld the land-portion precisely in order to be their portion.

לָהֶם֙lā·hem. . .

Preposition-lPronounthird person masculine plural

בְּת֖וֹךְbə·ṯō·wḵto them amongH8432

√ tâvek — a bisection, iPreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

בְּנֵ֥יbə·nêthe IsraelitesH1121

יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃yiś·rā·’êl. . .H3478

√ Yisrâʼêl — Jisrael, a symbolical name of JacobNounpropermasculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-their-mustered-ones were three and-twenty thousand, every male from-a-month-old and-upward; for they-were-not mustered among the-sons-of Israel, because no-inheritance was-given to-them among the-sons-of Israel.”

Where the English smooths the original

הָתְפָּקְדוּ הָתְפָּקְדוּ is a rare Hitpael of pāqad — “they-were-not-enrolled / did-not-get-themselves-mustered.” The reflexive-passive stem stresses that the Levites stood outside the military census-process entirely, not merely uncounted but a category apart.
מִבֶּן־ Literally “from-a-son-of [a month],” מִבֶּן — the Levites were counted from one month old, not from twenty like the fighting men (26:2). “Old” in English hides the idiom “son-of [an age]” and the striking fact that infants in arms are on this roll.
נַחֲלָה נַחֲלָה, naḥălâ, is “inheritance” in the strong sense of allotted landed possession — the very thing the whole chapter has been apportioning (26:53–56). The Levites' lack of it is not poverty but vocation: their portion is the LORD Himself (Numbers 18:20).

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. A tribe counted apart — 57–58

The great census of chapter 26 has been a war-roll — every tribe numbered “from twenty years old and upward, all who can go to war” (26:2). Then it stops, and Levi is taken by itself, on a wholly different principle. Matthew Henry puts the reason in a sentence: “Levi was God's tribe; therefore it was not numbered with the rest, but alone.” Cambridge says the same dryly — they were “numbered separately from the secular tribes, because they were not, as a tribe, to possess any land.” The Hebrew underlines the apartness: the muster-verb pāqad (פְקוּדֵי) opens v. 57 and closes the unit in v. 62, a bracket around a people God reviews on His own terms. The list itself is openly imperfect. Matthew Poole notices that because the Levites “were not to have a distinct share of the land,” they are recorded “confusedly and imperfectly, some of them being wholly omitted here” — Shimei and Uzziel drop out. The Pulpit Commentary maps the five surviving clans back onto Levi's three sons; Cambridge goes further and judges that v. 58 “appears to be separate from Numbers 26:57, and to be derived from a different source.” The honest grain of the text is a roster that does not pretend to completeness.

ii. The one line traced down — 58–59

Of the five clans, only Kohath's is followed to its end — and Keil names the reason: the break comes “for the purpose of tracing once more the descent of Moses and Aaron, the heads not of this tribe only, but of the whole nation.” The genealogy lands on a woman: Jochebed, “daughter of Levi,” who bore Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. And here the verse turns difficult. The clause “whom she bore to Levi” has no stated subject. Barnes is blunt: “the subject is wanting, and the verb is in the feminine gender. The words ‘her mother’ are merely conjectural. The text is probably imperfect.” Poole supplies it anyway — “her mother, to wit, Levi's wife, which must necessarily be understood.” But Keil refuses: it cannot be Levi's wife, “for Jochebed… was not a daughter of Levi in the strict sense of the word, but only a Levitess or descendant of Levi, who lived about 300 years after Levi.” Ellicott records the same crux — that Jochebed may be “the granddaughter, or possibly even some more remote descendant of Levi.” Three centuries cannot fit into the four named generations Kohath–Amram–Moses; the genealogy is compressed, telescoped, as Hebrew genealogies often are. The voices do not paper over it. Neither should the synthesis.

iii. The roster that records its own dead — 60–61

Aaron's four sons are listed (v. 60) — and then two of them are struck through (v. 61). The same census that names the priesthood names its tragedy. Nadab and Abihu died when they offered strange fire before the LORD. Gill keeps the older, sharper rendering: “the two first of which died for offering strange fire to the Lord, and the two last were now living.” The Hebrew word is zārâ (זָרָה, root zūr) — not just “unauthorized” but alien, intrusive, not-belonging; the Geneva Bible's “strange fire” is nearer the bone. They died liḏənê YHWH, “to the face of the LORD” — the same men who, with seventy elders, had once gone up Sinai and “saw the God of Israel” (Exodus 24:9–10). Nearness magnifies the trespass. Cambridge simply points back: “See on Numbers 3:4.” The lesson the genealogy quietly carries is that priestly descent is no shield; the fire that consecrates can consume.

iv. No portion but the LORD — 62

The unit closes on its own bracket: 23,000 — “every male a month old or more.” Barnes notes the arithmetic, “an increase of 1,000 on the number at Sinai,” and reads it as a round number. The Pulpit Commentary hears something more somber in so small a gain: in a tribe “excepted from the general doom at Kadesh” the meagre increase “seems to point to some considerable losses” — perhaps Korah's rebellion thinning the Kohathite ranks. But the verse's last word is not loss; it is vocation. Keil states the principle cleanly: the Levites were mustered apart “because the mustering took place with especial reference to the conquest of Canaan, and the Levites were not to receive any territory as a tribe.” The reason the text gives — “because no inheritance was given to them among the Israelites” — is the same reason God gave Aaron in Numbers 18:20: “I am your portion and your inheritance.” The tribe with no land is the tribe whose land is God.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

Read whole and under Scripture's own authority, this dry register of clans does three things worth testing against the text. First, it counts what the world would not count. The fighting-tribes are mustered from twenty years old; the Levites from one month — nursing infants on the roll of God. A tribe defined not by sword-strength but by belonging is numbered by a different ruler altogether. Second, it tells the truth about its own heroes. The same paragraph that gives us Moses, Aaron, and Miriam also records Jochebed's untraceable subject, the telescoped generations, the omitted clans, and — unflinching — the death of Nadab and Abihu for strange fire. Scripture writes its genealogies without airbrushing them; the Berean habit of checking is invited by the text's own honesty. Third, it grounds dignity in dispossession. The Levites' lack of land-inheritance is stated as their reason for being counted apart — and that lack is, elsewhere, named their treasure (Numbers 18:20). The pattern points forward: a people whose inheritance is not land but the LORD, and a Servant who “had nowhere to lay his head” yet was given “the name above every name.” This is offered as a reading to be weighed, not a verdict to be trusted.

The tribe with no inheritance is the tribe whose inheritance is the LORD — dispossession turned into portion.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The Levite muster echoes the first census (Numbers 3) verbal / quotation — confirmed

The clan-roll of vv. 57–58 reproduces, almost word for word, the Levitical census of Numbers 3 — Gershon, Kohath, Merari and their sub-clans. The verbal overlap is dense and specific: not only the common mishpāḥâ (“clan,” in 224 verses) but the rare gentilics Gêrəšunnî (12 vv), Qŏhâṯî (15 vv), Mêrârî (3 vv), Machlî (2 vv) and Mûshî (2 vv). The two musters bracket the wilderness generation: the same families counted at the start are counted again at the threshold of the land.

Numbers 26:57 · Numbers 26:58 · Numbers 3:21 · Numbers 3:27 · Numbers 3:33

basis: Verifier (Numbers 26:58 ↔ Numbers 3:33): shared rare lexemes H4188 Mûwšî (in 2 vv), H4250 Mačlî (in 2 vv); plus (26:57 ↔ 3:21) H1649 Gêrᵉšunnî (12 vv), H1648 Gêrᵉšôwn (18 vv), and (26:57 ↔ 3:27) H6956 Qŏhâţî (15 vv), H6955 Qᵉhâţ (29 vv). Hebrew↔Hebrew verbal link on low-frequency clan-names.

Jochebed, Amram, and the family of the deliverer verbal / quotation — confirmed

Verse 59 sets the parentage of Moses and Aaron — Amram and Jochebed — into the muster, and the same cluster of names recurs verbatim wherever Scripture rehearses the Levitical line: Exodus 6:20 and 1 Chronicles 6:3. The link rests on a stack of rare shared names: Yôwkeḇeḏ (Jochebed, in just 2 verses of the whole canon), ʻAmrâm (12 vv), Miryâm (Miriam, 13 vv), alongside Aaron and Moses. These are not thematic parallels but the same persons named in the same genealogical formula — the family tree of the exodus, carried through three books.

Numbers 26:59 · Exodus 6:20 · 1 Chronicles 6:3

basis: Verifier (Numbers 26:59 ↔ Exodus 6:20): shared H3115 Yôwkebed (in 2 vv, rare), H6019 ʻAmrâm (12 vv), H175 ʼAhărôwn, H3205 yâlad, H4872 Môsheh; and (26:59 ↔ 1 Chronicles 6:3) H6019 ʻAmrâm, H4813 Miryâm (13 vv), H175, H4872. Hebrew↔Hebrew verbal link on low-frequency proper names.

Nadab and Abihu and the strange fire (Leviticus 10) verbal / quotation — confirmed

Verse 61's terse obituary — “Nadab and Abihu died when they offered strange fire before the LORD” — is the census's compressed citation of the narrative in Leviticus 10. The Verifier confirms the link on the very word that makes the offense: zūr (H2114, “strange / alien”), the adjective on “fire” in both texts, together with the names Nadab and Abihu and the offering-verb qāraḇ. This is not a loose allusion but a deliberate verbal back-reference; the genealogy quotes the judgment-scene's own vocabulary. Numbers 3:4 records the same event in the same terms.

Numbers 26:60 · Numbers 26:61 · Leviticus 10:1 · Numbers 3:4

basis: Verifier (Numbers 26:61 ↔ Leviticus 10:1): shared H2114 zūwr (the rare “strange” on “fire,” in 76 vv but pointed here as the shared judgment-term), H30 ʼĂbîyhûwʼ (12 vv), H5070 Nâdâb (20 vv), H7126 qârab; and (26:60 ↔ Numbers 3:4 / 3:2) H30, H5070, H385 ʼîythâmâr (20 vv), H499 ʼElʻâzâr. Hebrew↔Hebrew verbal link.

No inheritance — the LORD as the Levites' portion structural / thematic — confirmed

The reason clause of v. 62 — “because no inheritance was given to them among the Israelites” — ties this census to the standing law of Numbers 18:20 (“you shall have no inheritance in their land… I am your portion”) and to its execution in Joshua 13:14, 33 (“the LORD God of Israel is their inheritance”). The shared vocabulary — naḥălâ (“inheritance,” 191 vv), nāṯan (“give”), and the negation lōʼ — marks a structural-legal motif, not a quotation: the same principle of Levitical landlessness stated in law, repeated in census, and carried out in the conquest.

Numbers 26:62 · Numbers 18:20 · Joshua 13:14 · Joshua 13:33

basis: Verifier (Numbers 26:62 ↔ Numbers 18:20): shared H5159 nachălâh (191 vv), H8432 tâvek, H3808 lôʼ; and (26:62 ↔ Joshua 13:14/13:33): H5159 nachălâh, H5414 nâthan, H3808 lôʼ. Common-frequency lexemes — a shared legal motif, no quotation claim.

The Levite census re-counted against Sinai (Numbers 3:39) structural / thematic — confirmed

The total of v. 62 — 23,000 “every male a month old or more” — is set deliberately against the first Levite count of 22,000 in Numbers 3:39, an increase of 1,000. Barnes, JFB, Poole, Ellicott, and Cambridge all read the two figures side by side. The verbal frame is shared: the same counting-verb pāqad, the same age-formula chŏḏeš (“month”) and maʻal (“upward”), the same zâkâr (“male”). Two muster-rolls of one tribe, taken a generation apart, invite the comparison the commentators make.

Numbers 26:62 · Numbers 3:39

basis: Verifier (Numbers 26:62 ↔ Numbers 3:39): shared H6485 pâqad (269 vv), H2145 zâkâr (80 vv), H2320 chôdesh (224 vv), H4605 maʻal (134 vv). Shared census-formula vocabulary — structural parallel between two counts of the same tribe; no quotation.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

A house of priests, two of whom fell — and the Priest who cannot ancient/widely-held

This census names the founding family of Israel's priesthood and, in the same breath, records that two of its sons died for bringing “strange fire before the LORD” (v. 61). The roster's own honesty about priestly failure throws into relief the New Testament's claim that Israel always needed a Priest who would not fail — one who, “because he continues forever, has a permanent priesthood” and is “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners” (Hebrews 7:24–26). Aaron's line had to be perpetually re-staffed across this very chapter (Eleazar and Ithamar surviving); the writer to the Hebrews reads the whole Levitical succession, with its deaths and replacements, as the shadow of a better and unending priesthood. Held honestly: the connection is figural — the New Testament does not cite Numbers 26 — but the contrast it draws between a dying, faltering priesthood and the abiding High Priest is the book of Hebrews' explicit argument.

Numbers 26:60 · Numbers 26:61 · Hebrews 7:23–27

The tribe whose inheritance is the LORD ancient/widely-held

Verse 62 grounds the Levites' separate census in a single fact: “no inheritance was given to them.” Numbers 18:20 names what they have instead — “I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.” The figure of a chosen people whose treasure is not land but God Himself is taken up directly in the Psalter — “The LORD is my chosen portion” (Psalm 16:5), “my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26) — and runs on to Christ, who had “nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20) and who makes His own people “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17), their inheritance “kept in heaven” (1 Peter 1:4) rather than measured in soil. The landless tribe prefigures a people whose portion is the Lord — the inheritance Christ both embodies and gives. Held honestly: the Levite-portion → believer's-portion line is an ancient and widely-held figural reading already drawn within the OT itself (Pss 16, 73); its New-Testament extension to Romans 8:17 and 1 Peter 1:4 is application, not a citation of Numbers 26, and is offered to be weighed against the text.

Numbers 26:62 · Numbers 18:20 · Romans 8:17 · 1 Peter 1:4

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, Commentary (1880s)
Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). The Hebrew is the Masoretic tradition; transliterations, parsings, literal renderings, and the “where the English smooths the Hebrew” notes are this tool's own work (⚙) — careful but fallible; check them against BDB/HALOT and a standard grammar.

Two honesty notes specific to this unit. (1) The text is openly imperfect here. Verse 59's clause “whom she bore to Levi” has no expressed subject; Barnes calls the text “probably imperfect,” Poole conjectures “Levi's wife,” and the matter cannot be settled from the Hebrew alone — the synthesis leaves the gap a gap. (2) The genealogy is telescoped. Taking Amram–Jochebed as the literal parents of Moses cannot be reconciled with the ~300 years from Levi without compression of generations; Keil and Ellicott both flag this, and the disagreement is recorded rather than resolved. The five-clan list of v. 58 is itself incomplete (Shimei and Uzziel omitted), as Poole and the Pulpit Commentary note.

The named voices are quoted verbatim from public-domain works (Matthew Henry 1706; Matthew Poole 1685; John Gill 1746–63; Albert Barnes 1834; Keil & Delitzsch, ET 1860s; Geneva Study Bible 1599; Cambridge Bible 1880s; Pulpit Commentary 1880s; Ellicott 1878), attributed in place. Spurgeon's verse-by-verse work is the Psalms (Treasury of David); he wrote no commentary on Numbers, so he is rightly absent here. Cross-reference tiers were computed by the project Verifier on shared Strong's lexemes; the recorded bases are quoted in each thread's badge. Every connection is ⚙ synthesis — generated and to be tested. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)