Numbers 26:2 (1 of 2) - On the “community” label

שְׂא֞וּ אֶת־רֹ֣אשׁ ׀ כׇּל־עֲדַ֣ת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל מִבֶּ֨ן עֶשְׂרִ֥ים שָׁנָ֛ה וָמַ֖עְלָה לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם כׇּל־יֹצֵ֥א צָבָ֖א בְּיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

“Take a census of the whole Israelite community* from the age of twenty years up, by their ancestral houses, all Israelite [males] able to bear arms.”

*whole Israelite community See note at 1.2.

(The above rendering and its footnote come from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation.)


The footnote at 1:2 says: “Or those eligible to be fighters on the community’s behalf.”

On the expression כׇּל־עֲדַת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל and its use as a metonym, see the section “Gender and Figurative Language” in this introduction, pp. 3–4; and see my comment to Exod 12:3, where the term כׇּל־עֲדַת יִשְׂרָאֵל is similarly employed.