Numbers 4:22

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

"Take a census of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers' houses, by their families;

World English Bible · Public Domain

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גֵרְשׁ֖וֹן

Gêrᵉshôwn

H1648

“Gershon”

Noun, Proper

Appears 17× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 46:11

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H1644

TWOT: None

Gershon or Gershom = "exile" - firstborn son of Levi born before Jacob's family went to Egypt

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 →

10: words
10: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is גֵרְשׁ֖וֹן Gershon H1648 — appearing just 17 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

גֵרְשׁ֖וֹן Gershon H1648 occurs in 17 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

1 verb
6 nouns
1 pronoun
2 particles

Verb forms

נָשֹׂ֗א Qal · Infinitive Absolute

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 16 words from the Hebrew and 21 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 10 Hebrew tokens and 15 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 4:22 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Numbers 3:18 These are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei.
Numbers 3:21 Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimeites: these are the families of the Gershonites.
Numbers 3:24 The prince of the fathers' house of the Gershonites shall be Eliasaph the son of Lael.

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 4:22 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

נָשֹׂ֗א אֶת רֹ֛אשׁ בְּנֵ֥י גֵרְשׁ֖וֹן גַּם הֵ֑ם לְבֵ֥ית אֲבֹתָ֖ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָֽם

"Take a census of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers' houses, by their families;

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 4:22 Septuagint · lemma form

λαμβάνω ὁ ἀρχή ὁ υἱός γεδσων καί οὗτος κατά οἶκος πατριά αὐτός κατά δῆμος αὐτός

Take the sum of the children of Gedson, and these according to the houses of their lineage, according to their families.

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)

קַבֵּל יָת חֻשְׁבַּן בְּנֵי גֵרְשׁוֹן אַף אִנוּן לְבֵית אֲבָהַתְהוֹן לְזַרְעֲיַתְהוֹן

(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)

קַבֵּל יַת חוּשְׁבַּן בְּנֵי גֵרְשׁוֹן אוּף הִינוּן לְבֵית אַבְהַתְהוֹן לִגְנִיסַתְהוֹן

Take the account of the Beni Gershon also, ___

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 4:22 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 →

John Gill's Exposition

This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, to serve, and for burdens. The former of these phrases Aben Ezra interprets of setting up the tabernacle, making the bread (the shewbread), slaying (the sacrifices), and keeping, that is, watching and guarding, the tabernacle; and the latter of what they did when journeying, bearing and carrying the things assigned to them, afterwards mentioned.

This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, to serve, and for burdens. The former of these phrases Aben Ezra interprets of setting up the tabernacle, making the bread (the shewbread), slaying (the sacrifices), and keeping, that is, watching and guarding, the tabernacle; and the latter of what they did when journeying, bearing and carrying the things assigned to them, afterwards mentioned.

Numbers 4:25

num 4:25

num 4:25

num 4:25And they shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle,.... The ten curtains of fine linen, Exo 26:1,

and the tabernacle of the congregation; the curtains of goats' hair made for a tent over it, as Jarchi, see Exo 26:7,

his covering the covering of rams skins dyed red, Exo 26:14,

and the covering of the badgers' skins that is above upon it; over all the rest:

and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; the eastern vail, as Jarchi calls it, which was for the door of the tent that led into the tabernacle, the holy place, Exo 26:36.

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

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

נשא את ראש בני גרשון גם הם TAKE ALSO THE SUM OF THE SONS OF GERSHON - "also" implies: even as I have commanded you regarding the sons of Kohath; i.e. to see how many of them have already reached the age to be included amongst those fit for service.

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 10 words (10 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Gêrᵉshôwn (“Gershon”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “Gershon” (Gêrᵉshôwn) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Genesis 46:11 shares the word «Gershon» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «נָשֹׂ֗א» is Qal Infinitive Absolute. How does its form color the action?
Reading how John Gill's Exposition and Rashi read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 10 Hebrew ↔ 15 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 12 words in this verse.
10 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 10 words in this verse.