The Wilderness Years

On the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the Wilderness of Sinai. He said:

“Take a census of the whole congregation of Israel by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one.

You and Aaron are to number those who are twenty years of age or older by their divisions—everyone who can serve in Israel’s army.

And one man from each tribe, the head of each family, must be there with you.

These are the names of the men who are to assist you: From the tribe of Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur;

from Simeon, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai;

from Judah, Nahshon son of Amminadab;

from Issachar, Nethanel son of Zuar;

from Zebulun, Eliab son of Helon;

from the sons of Joseph: from Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud, and from Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur;

from Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni;

from Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai;

from Asher, Pagiel son of Ocran;

from Gad, Eliasaph son of Deuel;

and from Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan.”

These men were appointed from the congregation; they were the leaders of the tribes of their fathers, the heads of the clans of Israel.

So Moses and Aaron took these men who had been designated by name,

and on the first day of the second month they assembled the whole congregation and recorded their ancestry by clans and families, counting one by one the names of those twenty years of age or older,

just as the LORD had commanded Moses. So Moses numbered them in the Wilderness of Sinai:

From the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, according to the records of their clans and families, counting one by one the names of every male twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army,

those registered to the tribe of Reuben numbered 46,500.

From the sons of Simeon, according to the records of their clans and families, counting one by one the names of every male twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army,

those registered to the tribe of Simeon numbered 59,300.

From the sons of Gad, according to the records of their clans and families, counting the names of all those twenty years of age or older who could serve in the army,

those registered to the tribe of Gad numbered 45,650.