Numbers 3:43
New International Version
The total number of firstborn males a month old or more, listed by name, was 22,273.

New Living Translation
The number of firstborn sons who were one month old or older was 22,273.

English Standard Version
And all the firstborn males, according to the number of names, from a month old and upward as listed were 22,273.

Berean Standard Bible
The total number of the firstborn males a month old or more, listed by name, was 22,273.

King James Bible
And all the firstborn males by the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those that were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and threescore and thirteen.

New King James Version
And all the firstborn males, according to the number of names from a month old and above, of those who were numbered of them, were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.

New American Standard Bible
and all the firstborn males, by the number of names from a month old and upward for their numbered men, were 22,273.

NASB 1995
and all the firstborn males by the number of names from a month old and upward, for their numbered men were 22,273.

NASB 1977
and all the first-born males by the number of names from a month old and upward, for their numbered men were 22,273.

Legacy Standard Bible
and all the firstborn males by the number of names from a month old and upward, for their numbered men were 22,273.

Amplified Bible
and all the firstborn males from a month old and upward as numbered were 22,273 [273 more than the Levites].

Christian Standard Bible
The total number of the firstborn males one month old or more listed by name was 22,273.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The total number of the firstborn males one month old or more listed by name was 22,273.

American Standard Version
And all the first-born males according to the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those that were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and threescore and thirteen.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And all firstborn males by the number of the names of a son of a month and above, the number of them was twenty and two thousand and two hundred and seventy and three.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And all the male first-born in number by name, from a month old and upwards, were according to their numbering twenty-two thousand and two hundred and seventy-three.

Contemporary English Version
there were 22,273 of them.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the males by their names, from one month and upward, were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.

English Revised Version
And all the firstborn males according to the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those that were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and threescore and thirteen.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The total of all the firstborn males at least one month old was 22,273. They were listed by name.

Good News Translation
one month old or older; the total was 22,273.

International Standard Version
All the first-born males according to the list of their names from a month old and above numbered 22,273.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And all the first-born males according to the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those that were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and threescore and thirteen.

Literal Standard Version
And every firstborn male, by the number of names, from a son of a month and upward, of their numbered ones, are twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.

Majority Standard Bible
The total number of the firstborn males a month old or more, listed by name, was 22,273.

New American Bible
All the firstborn males, registered by name, of a month or more, numbered twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.

NET Bible
And all the firstborn males, by the number of the names from a month old and upward, totaled 22,273.

New Revised Standard Version
The total enrollment, all the firstborn males from a month old and upward, counting the number of names, was twenty-two thousand two hundred seventy-three.

New Heart English Bible
All the firstborn males according to the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those who were numbered of them, were twenty-two thousand two hundred seventy-three.

Webster's Bible Translation
And all the first-born males by the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those that were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and seventy and three.

World English Bible
All the firstborn males according to the number of names from a month old and upward, of those who were counted of them, were twenty-two thousand two hundred seventy-three.

Young's Literal Translation
And all the first-born -- male -- by the number of names, from a son of a month and upward, of their numbered ones, are two and twenty thousand two hundred and seventy and three.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Redemption of the Firstborn
42So Moses numbered all the firstborn of the Israelites, as the LORD had commanded him. 43The total number of the firstborn males a month old or more, listed by name, was 22,273 44Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,…

Cross References
Numbers 3:39
The total number of Levites that Moses and Aaron counted by their clans at the LORD's command, including all the males a month old or more, was 22,000.

Numbers 3:42
So Moses numbered all the firstborn of the Israelites, as the LORD had commanded him.

Numbers 3:44
Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,


Treasury of Scripture

And all the firstborn males by the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those that were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and three score and thirteen.

Numbers 3:39
All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the LORD, throughout their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty and two thousand.

Jump to Previous
First Firstborn First-Born Hundred Listed Male Males Month Names Numbered Numbering Seventy Seventy-Three Thirteen Thousand Three Threescore Total Twenty Twenty-Two Upward
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First Firstborn First-Born Hundred Listed Male Males Month Names Numbered Numbering Seventy Seventy-Three Thirteen Thousand Three Threescore Total Twenty Twenty-Two Upward
Numbers 3
1. The sons of Aaron
5. The Levites are given to the priests instead of the firstborn
14. Are numbered by their families
21. The families, number, and charge of the Gershonites
27. Of the Kohathites
33. Of the Merarites
38. The place and charge of Moses and Aaron
40. The firstborn are freed by the Levites
44. The balances are refunded














(43) Twenty and two thousand two hundred and threescore and thirteen.--The extremely small number of the firstborn in proportion to a male population of 600,000 of twenty years of age and upwards--i.e., to a population of about 1,000,000 males--has been a fruitful source of difficulty, and, in some cases, a ground for the rejection of the historical truth of the narrative, which involves, it has been alleged, the incredible conclusion that there was only one firstborn to forty-four males. It might suffice, in answer to those who urge this difficulty as a ground for rejecting the truth of the narrative, to reply that it is difficult, if not impossible, to conceive that a writer who has recorded, or, according to the theory in question, invented so many complicated calculations, should have inserted amongst them one which is fraught with so much apparent improbability. Many solutions of the problem have been proposed which relieve the apparent disproportion of the number of the firstborn not only of its alleged impossibility, but even of improbability. Some have urged that we are constrained by every principle of analogy to restrict the firstborn sons to those who were under twenty years of age, and who had not been included in the census which had been already taken. The destruction of the firstborn of the Egyptians was clearly subject to a somewhat similar limitation. Pharaoh himself was, in all probability, a firstborn son; and in regard to the Egyptians generally there does not appear to have been above one death in each house (Exodus 12:30), although there must have been very many houses in which the father (and it may be the grandfather) as well as the son was a firstborn child. Another opinion is that by the firstborn in every family we are to understand the firstborn in every household, including the children of concubines and slaves. When due allowance has been made, on either of these hypotheses, for the average proportion of the sexes, the average number of early deaths, and also for the limitation of the term firstborn to those who were the firstborn on the side of the father as well as of the mother, it has been contended that the number of the firstborn is consistent with the supposition that each family of the Israelites consisted of about eight or nine children--a supposition which, considering how prolific the Hebrew women are said to have been, cannot be regarded as deserving of rejection on the ground of its incredibility. The most probable solution of the difficulty, however, appears to be that which is given in the Introduction.

Verse 43. - Twenty and two thousand two hundred and threescore and thirteen. These were the first-born of the twelve tribes; but who were included under the designation "first-born" is a matter of grave dispute. The smallness of their number (not much above one per cent. of the whole population) has given rise to several conflicting theories, all of which seem to be artificial, arbitrary, and therefore unsatisfactory. It is urged by some that the expression "every male that openeth the womb" must be strictly pressed, and that there would be no "first-born" in those families (which form a considerable majority) in which either a girl was born first, or the eldest, being a boy, had died. It is further urged that only those first-horn would be counted who were not themselves fathers of families. These considerations will indeed reduce the probable numbers very largely, but not to the required amount. Others, again, give an entirely different turn to the difficulty by urging that as the command in Exodus 13. I was prospective only, so at this time only the first-born since the exodus were counted. This makes it necessary to assume an altogether unprecedented birth-rate during that short period. One other explanation strives to satisfy the arithmetical conditions of the problem by assuming that the whole of the Divine legislation in this matter was in reality directed against the worship of Moloch, and was designed to prevent the offering of first-born to him by redeeming them unto himself. As the rites of Moloch only demanded young children of tender age, only such were counted in this census. It may, indeed, be very probably concluded that their heavenly Father did claim these first-born, partly in order to save them from Moloch, because the people would thereafter be exposed to the fascination of that horrid superstition; but there is no proof whatever that they were acquainted with it at this time. These cruel rites, together with many other heathen abominations, are forbidden in Leviticus 18:21 and Deuteronomy 18:10, in view of the entry into Canaan, where they were practiced. The prophet Amos, when he reproaches them with having "carried the tabernacle of" their "Moloch" even in the wilderness (Amos 5:26), absolves them by implication from any darker superstition; and the highly rhetorical passage Ezekiel 20:26 seems to refer to the consequences of disobedience at a later date, and can hardly be pressed against the entire silence of the Pentateuch. Anyhow it does not seem possible, on the strength of a supposed intention on the part of God of which no trace appears in the text, to impose a narrow and arbitrary limit upon the plain command to number "all the first-born, from a month old and upward." If we turn from these speculations to the reason and ground of the matter as stated by God himself, it will appear much more simple. It was distinctly on the ground of their preservation from the destroying angel in Egypt that the first-born of Israel were claimed as God's peculium now (see verse 13). The command in Exodus 13:1 was no doubt prospective, but the sanctification of the first-born was based upon the deliverance itself; and this command was intended not to limit that sanctification for the present, but to continue it for the future. Now if we turn to Exodus 12:29, 30, and ask who the first-born were whom the destroying angel cut off, we see plainly enough that they included the eldest son, being a child, in every house; that every family lost one, and only one. On the one hand, Pharaoh himself was in all probability a first-born, but he was not in any personal danger, because he ranked and suffered as a father, not as a son. On the other hand, the majority of families in which the first-born was a daughter, or had died, did not therefore escape: "there was not a house where there was not one dead." Taking this as the only sure ground to go upon, we may conclude with some confidence that the first-born now claimed by God in-eluded all the eldest sons in the families of Israel who were not themselves the heads of houses. These were the destroyed in Egypt - these the redeemed in Israel. How they came to be so few in proportion is a matter in itself of extremely slight importance, and dependant, perhaps, upon causes of which no record was left.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
The total
כָל־ (ḵāl)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

number
לִפְקֻדֵיהֶ֑ם (lip̄·qu·ḏê·hem)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine plural construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 6485: To visit, to oversee, muster, charge, care for, miss, deposit

of the firstborn
בְּכ֨וֹר (bə·ḵō·wr)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1060: Firstborn, chief

males
זָכָ֜ר (zā·ḵār)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2145: Remembered, a male

a month old
מִבֶּן־ (mib·ben-)
Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1121: A son

or more,
וָמַ֖עְלָה (wā·ma‘·lāh)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb | third person feminine singular
Strong's 4605: The upper part, with prefix upward, above, overhead, from the top

listed
בְּמִסְפַּ֥ר (bə·mis·par)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4557: A number, definite, indefinite, narration

by name,
שֵׁמ֛וֹת (šê·mō·wṯ)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 8034: A name

was
וַיְהִי֩ (way·hî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

22,273
שְׁנַ֤יִם (šə·na·yim)
Number - md
Strong's 8147: Two (a cardinal number)


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OT Law: Numbers 3:43 All the firstborn males according to (Nu Num.)
Numbers 3:42
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