Numbers 4:44

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

even those who were numbered of them by their families, were three thousand two hundred.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

Septuagint runs longer here — compare

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פְקֻדֵיהֶ֖ם

pâqad

H6485

“visited · them”

Verb, Qal, Participle Passive, Masculine, Plural, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural

Appears 304× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 21:1

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 1802

to attend to, muster, number, reckon, visit, punish, appoint, look after, care for (verb) - (Qal) - to pay attention to, observe - to attend to - to seek, look about for - to seek in vain, need, miss, lack - to visit - to visit upon, punish - to pass in review, muster, number - to appoint, assign, lay upon as a charge, deposit - (Niphal) - to be sought, be needed, be missed, be lacking - to be visited - to be visited upon - to be appointed - to be watched over - (Piel) to muster, call up - (Pual) to be passed in review, be caused to miss, be called, be called to account - (Hiphil) - to set over, make overseer, appoint an overseer - to commit, entrust, commit for care, deposit - (Hophal) - to be visited - to be deposited - to be made overseer, be entrusted - (Hithpael) numbered - (Hothpael) numbered - musterings, expenses (noun masculine plural abstract)

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 →

6: words
6: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
1 noun
3 adjectives

Verb forms

וַיִּהְי֥וּ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
פְקֻדֵיהֶ֖ם Qal · Participle Passive

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 15 words from the Hebrew and 22 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the Septuagint runs noticeably longer here. See the side-by-side →

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.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Numbers 4:44 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Numbers 3:34 Those who were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were six thousand two hundred.
Deuteronomy 33:25 Your bars shall be iron and brass; As your days, so shall your strength be.
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
1 Corinthians 12:8–12 For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit;
2 Corinthians 12:9–10 He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.

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.

Here the Septuagint runs noticeably longer than the Hebrew — LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) 22 words vs World English Bible 15. A rough length comparison of the two English translations, not a word-level alignment — read both below.

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

Hebrew Numbers 4:44 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיִּהְי֥וּ פְקֻדֵיהֶ֖ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֑ם שְׁלֹ֥שֶׁת אֲלָפִ֖ים וּמָאתָֽיִם

even those who were numbered of them by their families, were three thousand two hundred.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 4:44 Septuagint · lemma form

καί γίγνομαι ὁ ἐπίσκεψις αὐτός κατά δῆμος αὐτός κατά οἶκος πατριά αὐτός τρισχίλιοι καί διακόσιοι

And the numbering of them according to their families, according to the houses of their lineage, was three thousand and two hundred.

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)

וַהֲווֹ מִנְיָנֵיהוֹן לְזַרְעֲיַתְהוֹן תְּלָתָא אַלְפִין וּמָאתָן

(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)

וַהֲווֹ סְכוּמְהוֹן לִגְנִיסַתְהוֹן תְּלַת אַלְפִין וּמָאתָן

were three thousand two hundred.

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 4:44 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 4:44 Even those that were numbered of them after their families, were three thousand and two hundred.

Ver. 44. Three thousand and two hundred.] By this diversity of number among the Levite families, God showeth his wisdom, saith an interpreter, in fitting men for the work, whereunto he hath appointed them, whether it requireth multitude or gifts. "For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, &c., dividing to every man severally as he will." {1Co 12:8; 1Co 12:12} It is reported, that in Luther’s house was found written, Res et verba Philippus, res sine verbis Lutherus, verba sine re Erasmus, Melancthon hath both matter and words; Luther hath matter, but wants words; Erasmus hath words, but wants matter. Every one hath his own share: all are not alike gifted.

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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Num 4:44. Were numbered of them three thousand and two hundred — Here appears the wisdom of Divine Providence, that whereas in the Kohathites and Gershonites, whose burdens were fewer and easier, there were but about a third part of them fit for service, the Merarites, whose burdens were more and heavier, had above half of them fit for this work.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Here appears the wisdom of Divine Providence, that whereas in the Kohathites and Gershonites, whose burdens were fewer and easier, there were but about a third part of them which were fit for service, the Merarites, whose burdens were more and heavier, had above one half of them fit for this work.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Three thousand - Here appears the wisdom of Divine Providence, that whereas in the Kohathites and Gershonites, whose burdens were fewer and easier, there were but about a third part of them fit for service; the Merarites, whose burdens were more and heavier, had above half of them fit for this work.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

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 6 words (6 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is pâqad (“to visit”). The Greek Septuagint runs longer here. A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “to visit” (pâqad) shape what this verse is saying?
Numbers 3:34 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
Compared with the Hebrew, the Septuagint runs longer here. What questions does that raise?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «וַיִּהְי֥וּ» is Qal Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 14 words in this verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 6 words in this verse.