I believe what was written. In the original language.
The English is probably 99% reliable, but a translation
is never exactly the same as the original.
As I said in the first post on this, eleph can mean 1000
or family. If you read the census of families in Numbers
1:2-3, it tells how the census is to be taken.
1. by tribe
2. by house, or family
3. all those males able to go to war
So, in verse 21, it lists:
1. Tribe of Reuben
2. 46 families or households (not thousands)
3. 500 men able to go to war
and so on.
Don't forget that all scripture must agree. Israel was
not a large group until long after that time.
Deuteronomy 7:7
7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
History on the size of armies in the ancient world.
http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/gabrmetz/gabr0009.htm