במדבר 1:48

Hebrew Modern Translation

וידבר יהוה אל משה לאמר׃

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Aleppo Codex
וידבר יהוה אל משה לאמר

Biblia Hebrica Stuttgartensia (1967/77)
וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר ׃

Westminster Leningrad Codex
וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹֽר ׃

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For the Lord had spoken unto Moses,.... Not to number the Levites, when he gave him the orders to number the rest of the tribes: this is observed, lest it should be thought that this was what Moses did of himself, out of affection to the tribe he was of, and to spare it, that it might not be obliged to go forth to war when others did; not that they were forbid to engage in war, or that it was unlawful for them so to do, for when necessity required, and they were of themselves willing to engage in it, they might, as appears in the case of the Maccabees, but they might not be forced into it; they were, as Josephus e says, exempted from it; and so all concerned in religious service, both among Heathens and Christians, have always been excused bearing arms:

saying; as follows.

e Antiqu. l. 3. c. 12. sect. 4.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

When a census of the tribe of Levi takes place. Numbers 3:15; Numbers 26:62, “all” the males are counted from a month old and upward, and not, as in the other tribes, those only who were of age for service in the field.

Numbers 1:48

had spoken - Render spake. The formal appointment is only now made, in reward for their zeal Exodus 32:26-29, though reference to their future office appears previously in Leviticus 25:32 ff, and they had already acted as assistants to the priests (compare Exodus 38:21).