Numbers 4:2

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

"Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers' houses,

World English Bible · Public Domain

Download a study sheet

One document with this verse’s original text, its word-by-word gloss line, the meaning frame, cross-references with their text, attributed commentary, and full source and license credits — printable, and it pastes into notes with its structure intact.

This verse Autodidact and up

Study sheet (.html) Plain text (.txt)

A passage Seminary Student

Up to 50 verses in one chapter. A passage sheet keeps up to 6 commentary sources and 12 cross-references per verse, in the order this page ranks them, and says so on the sheet whenever that leaves anything out. Ask for a single verse and you get the Autodidact verse sheet above.

Everything on this page stays free to read, with no account — the sheet is a download of what is already on screen, not access to it.

Want to remove ads? Support Godless Engineer

Word by word

More ways to search: Search by grammar → Find every occurrence → Compare this word →

Practice this passage: Drill this verse → Learn its vocabulary →

קְהָ֔ת

Qᵉhâth

H6955

“Kohath”

Noun, Proper

Appears 32× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 46:11

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from an unused root meaning to ally oneself

TWOT: None

Kohath = "assembly" - the 2nd of the 3 sons of Levi and progenitor of a family in the tribe of Levi

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

11: words
10: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

קְהָ֔ת Kohath H6955 occurs in 29 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

1 verb
9 nouns
1 particle

Verb forms

נָשֹׂ֗א Qal · Infinitive Absolute

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

בְּנֵ֣י son H1121 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 21 words from the Hebrew and 27 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 11 Hebrew tokens and 17 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Numbers 4:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Numbers 3:19 The sons of Kohath by their families: Amram, and Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
Numbers 3:27 Of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites: these are the families of the Kohathites.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Numbers 4:2 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

נָשֹׂ֗א אֶת רֹאשׁ֙ בְּנֵ֣י קְהָ֔ת מִתּ֖וֹךְ בְּנֵ֣י לֵוִ֑י לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֥ית אֲבֹתָֽם

"Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers' houses,

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 4:2 Septuagint · lemma form

λαμβάνω ὁ κεφάλαιον ὁ υἱός κααθ ἐκ μέσος υἱός λευί κατά δῆμος αὐτός κατά οἶκος πατριά αὐτός

Take the sum of the children of Caath from the midst of the sons of Levi, after their families, according to the houses of their fathers' households;

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

קַבִּילוּ יָת חֻשְׁבַּן בְּנֵי קְהָת מִגוֹ בְּנֵי לֵוִי לְזַרְעֲיַתְהוֹן לְבֵית אֲבָהַתְהוֹן

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

קַבִּילוּ יַת חוּשְׁבַּן בְּנֵי קְהָת מִגוֹ בְנֵי לֵוִי לִגְנִיסַתְהוֹן לְבֵית אַבְהַתְהוֹן

Take the account of the sons of Kehath from among the Beni Levi,

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Numbers 4:2 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Num 4:2 Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their families, by the house of their fathers,

Ver. 2. Of the sons of Kohath.] Kohath was not Levi’s firstborn, but Gershom: and yet he hath the pre-eminence, and chief charge, as of the ark, tables, candlestick, altars, &c., {Num 3:31} perhaps because Moses and Aaron were of that family.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Keil & Delitzsch

C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch

Service of the Kohathites, and the number qualified for service. - Num 4:2, Num 4:3. "Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi:" i.e., by raising them out of the sum total of the Levites, by numbering them first and specially, viz., the men from 30 to 50 years of age, "every one who comes to the service," i.e., who has to enter upon service "to do work at the tabernacle." צבא (Angl. 'host') signifies military service, and is used here with special reference to the service of the Levites as the militia sacra of Jehovah.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

IV.

(2) Of the sons of Kohath . . . —Kohath appears to have been the second son of Levi (Num_3:17), but the Kohathites here stand first because Moses and Aaron belonged to them, and it was their office to bear the Ark.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi,.... They were to begin with them first, and number them:

after their families, by the house of their fathers; as many as were of the age after mentioned; and the reason why they began with Kohath, and not Gershon, the eldest son, as in the former numbering, was; not as Aben Ezra suggests, because of Moses and Aaron, who sprung from him, for that, if it had any strength in it, would have held good before; but rather, as Chaskuni and others, because the Kohathites carried the ark and other holy things; though the true reason seems to be, because of the order observed in taking down the tabernacle, and removing the parts of it, and the things in it; and it was most proper and reasonable, when they were about to take it down, first to take out the ark, table, &c. which was the business of the Kohathites to carry; next to take down the curtains, coverings, and hangings for the tabernacle and court, and the doors thereof, which were the charge of the Merarites; wherefore, in this order the sum out of each of them fit for business were ordered to be numbered.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Pulpit Commentary

Take the sum of the sons of Kohath. The Levites having been separated from the other tribes, the Kohathites are now to be separated from amongst the other Levites for the most honourable and sacred duties. To them the preference was given presumably because the priests were Kohathites.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

נשא את ראש וגו׳ TAKE THE SUM OF [THE SONS OF KOHATH] — Count those that are fit among them for the service of carrying, and these are the men from thirty to fifty years, for a person less than thirty has not yet attained his full strength, — hence they (the Rabbis) said (Avot 5:21) “a man of thirty has reached the age when he enters into full strength”, — as for one who is older than fifty, his strength gradually diminishes from then.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Numbers, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 11 words (10 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Qᵉhâth (“Kohath”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “Kohath” (Qᵉhâth) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Genesis 46:11 shares the word «Kohath» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“son” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «נָשֹׂ֗א» is Qal Infinitive Absolute. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Keil & Delitzsch read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 11 Hebrew ↔ 17 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 14 words in this verse.
“son” occurs 2× in this single verse.
10 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 11 words in this verse.