What Does Numbers 2:23 Mean in the King James?
And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were thirty and five thousand and four hundred.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “numbered” also carries the sense of being attended to and mustered, so this total is a people gathered into place, not bare arithmetic.
THE MEANING
Benjamin’s host has a visible scale and a definite place: 35,400. The verse speaks to you now of how a whole becomes visible through the distinct portions that make it up.
THE ROOT
פְּקֻדָיו
pəqudāv
GROWS FROM
פקד
To attend to or take account of; in context, to muster, appoint, or count.
The form translated “numbered” belongs to פקד, whose range includes attending to, appointing, and mustering. The word lets this count carry more than a final total: it presents a people taken into account and gathered into their ordered place.
ALSO GROWS
pāqad: To attend to, muster, appoint, or number.
פָּקַד
This verb’s range links counting with taking account of the people being mustered.
pāqīd: An appointed official or overseer.
פָּקִיד
This related word carries the root into ordered responsibility, echoing the place Benjamin’s host holds in the camp.
THE PATTERN
A count makes a many visible as a whole while keeping its parts in view.
He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.THE THREAD
When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.The word translated “numberest” comes from the same root, פקד (p-q-d), as “numbered” here. Exodus makes each counted person distinct in the act of numbering: every man gives his own ransom.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us