Bible Strands
Numbers 1:29
those registered to the tribe of Issachar numbered 54,400.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator records the tribal census at the foot of Sinai, listing combat-ready men organized by clan. The passage concludes the enumeration of Issachar within a broader military inventory.
The words — The phrase פְּקֻדֵי הֶם (pe.ku.dei hem) literally means "their enrolled [men]," and the text states the exact count אַרְבָּעָה וְחָמִשִּׁים אֶלֶף וְאַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת (arba'ah ve'chamishim elef ve'arba me'ot) as 54,400. These terms frame the population as a recorded administrative unit rather than a casual headcount.
The thread — This same figure appears in Numbers 2:6 as the assigned camp strength for Issachar's division. A later census in Numbers 26:25 records a different total of 64,300 for the same tribe.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of precise, documented organization within the community. It requires the reader to track how recorded numbers function as structural markers for tribal identity and military readiness.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty and four thousand and four hundred.
Cross-references
- Numbers 26:25 These were the clans of Issachar, and their registration numbered 64,300.
- Numbers 2:6 and his division numbers 54,400.