Bible Strands
Numbers 1:33
those registered to the tribe of Ephraim numbered 40,500.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses and Aaron record the military census of Israel at Sinai, listing the enrolled fighting men for each tribe. This verse states the specific total for the tribe of Ephraim.
The words — The Hebrew פְּקֻדֵיהֶם (pequdehem) means "their enrolled [men]," and מֵאֹת (me'ot) specifies the hundreds that complete the 40,500 count.
The thread — The same division total appears in Numbers 2:19, while Numbers 26:37 records a later registration of 32,500 for Ephraim. Genesis 48:5 establishes the tribal foundation that makes this count meaningful.
Why it lands — The text reports a precise headcount without commentary, requiring the reader to track demographic shifts across generations. It demands attention to how covenant promises are measured through concrete population data rather than abstract claims.
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 Ephraim, were forty thousand and five hundred.
Cross-references
- Numbers 26:37 These were the clans of Ephraim, and their registration numbered 32,500. These clans were the descendants of Joseph.
- Genesis 48:5 And now your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here shall be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine.
- Numbers 2:19 and his division numbers 40,500.
- Deuteronomy 33:17 His majesty is like a firstborn bull, and his horns are like those of a wild ox. With them he will gore the nations, even to the ends of the earth. Such are the myriads of Ephraim, and such are the thousands of Manasseh.”