Who can count Jacob’s people? They are as many as the grains of dust. No one can count even a fourth of the Israelites. Let me die like a good man. Let my life end as happy as theirs!”
I will make your people so many that they will be like the dust of the earth. If people could count all the particles of dust on earth, they could count your people.
Then I heard a voice from heaven. It said, “Write this: From now on there are great blessings for those who belong to the Lord when they die.” The Spirit says, “Yes, that is true. They will rest from their hard work. What they have done will stay with them.”
We know that our body—the tent we live in here on earth—will be destroyed. But when that happens, God will have a home for us to live in. It will not be the kind of home people build here. It will be a home in heaven that will continue forever.
“The total number of men in Judah’s camp is 186,400. All these men are divided into their different tribes. Judah will be the first group to move when the people travel from one place to another.
You will have as many descendants as there are particles of dust on the earth. They will spread east and west, north and south. All the families on earth will be blessed because of you and your descendants.
I will surely bless you and give you as many descendants as the stars in the sky. There will be as many people as sand on the seashore. And your people will live in cities that they will take from their enemies.
“The total number of men in all the divisions of Reuben’s camp is 151,450. His camp will be the second group to move when the people travel from place to place.