Bible/King James/Documentary Hypothesis/Priestly source/Census

<Bible, English, King James, According to the documentary hypothesis | Priestly source

According to the documentary hypothesis, the torah was redacted together from a number of earlier source texts. The largest of these is referred to as the "Priestly source", due to its concentration on details which would be of interest to the Aaronid priesthood.

The reconstructed text of this source contains several elements which are separable from the narrative, including several laws, and descriptions of how rituals should be carried out. It is sometimes believed that these were originally separate documents held as priestly records, or simple observations. One of these separable elements is the census data listing the numbers of each tribe and its princes, at different points.

Some of the data appears as the first census at Numbers 1:2-48, 1:54, 2:1-16, 2:17b-34, 3:15-24, 3:27-30, 3:33-35, 3:38-40, 3:42-51, 4:1-3, 4:22-23, 4:29-30, and 4:34-49. More information about names of leaders occurs at Numbers 10:14-16, 10:18-20, 10:22-27, and 13:3b-16a. The remainder of the data, including the genealogies of families, appears as the second census at Numbers 26:1-8 and 26:12-65.

''Though based on the relevant passages of Numbers, the following text presents the information in a simplified form, while keeping the same data. The numbering of the text does not necessarily reflect that of the original''

Introduction
1 Of all the congregation of the children of Israel,


 * A In the wilderness of Sinai,


 * i Take ye the sum,


 * a By their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers,


 * b With the number of their names, every male by their polls;


 * c From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel.


 * ii And there shall be a man of every tribe; every one head of the house of his fathers.


 * a These were the renowned of the congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.


 * iii Every man of the children of Israel pitched by his own standard, with the ensign of their father's house:


 * B And in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho,


 * i Take the sum,


 * a From twenty years old and upward,


 * b Throughout their fathers' house, all that are able to go to war in Israel.


 * ii And there shall be one prince of every tribe, to divide the land by inheritance


 * a Save Rueben, and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, for they have received their inheritance.

2 These were the sons of Levi by their names; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari.


 * A Of the children of Levi, number them:


 * i After their families, by the house of their fathers:


 * ii Every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them.


 * B And take their sum


 * i After their families, by the house of their fathers;


 * ii From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old shalt thou number them,


 * iii Every one that entereth into the service, to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation.

First born
1 The number of all the firstborn of the males of the children of Israel from a month old and upward, were 22,273.

2 For the Levites, 273 to be redeemed.

3 Five shekels apiece by the poll, after the shekel of the sanctuary

4 Of the firstborn of the children of Israel, 1,365 shekels.