Numbers 4–5

4TH CHAPTER

The Duties of the Families Descended From Levi’s Sons

¹The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²“Take a census of the Levites who are descended from Kohath. List them by families and households. ³Register all the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who are qualified to work at the tent of meeting. 

⁴“This is the work the Kohathites will do in the tent of meeting: They will take care of the most holy things. ⁵When the camp is supposed to move, Aaron and his sons will go in and take down the canopy that hangs over the ark containing the words of God’s promise. First they will cover the ark with the canopy. ⁶Over this they will put a covering of fine leather.On top of that they will spread a cloth made entirely of violet material. Then they will put the poles in place. 

⁷“They will spread a violet cloth over the table of the presence and put on it the plates, dishes, bowls, and pitchers for the wine offerings. The bread that is always in the Lord’s presence will also be on it. ⁸They will spread a bright red cloth over everything on the table. They will cover all this with fine leather. Then they will put the poles in place. 

⁹“They will take a violet cloth and cover the lamp stand, as well as the lamps, tongs, trays, and all the containers for the olive oil used in the lamps. ¹⁰Then they will put the lamp stand and all its utensils under a covering of fine leather and put them on a frame to carry them. 

¹¹“They will spread a violet cloth over the gold altar and cover the cloth with fine leather. Then they will put the poles in place. 

¹²“They will take all the articles that are used in the holy place, put them in a violet cloth, cover that with fine leather, and put them on a frame to carry them. 

¹³“After they take the ashes away, they will spread a purple cloth over the altar. ¹⁴Next, they will put all the accessories used at the altar on it. These are the trays, forks, shovels, and bowls—all the altar’s accessories. They will spread a covering of fine leather over all this. Then they will put the poles in place. 

¹⁵“When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy things and the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites will come to carry all the holy articles. They must never touch the holy things, or they will die. The Kohathites will carry all the things from the tent of meeting. 

¹⁶“Eleazar, son of the priest Aaron, will be in charge of the oil for the lamps, the sweet-smelling incense, the daily grain offering, and the anointing oil. He is in charge of the whole tent and everything in it, the holy place and its contents.” 

¹⁷The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ¹⁸“Don’t let the Kohathite families from Levi’s tribe be destroyed. ¹⁹This is what you must do so that they won’t die when they come near the most holy things: Aaron and his sons will go into the holy place and tell each man what he will do and what he will carry. ²⁰But the Kohathites must not go in to look at the holy things, even for a moment, or they will die.” 

²¹The Lord said to Moses, ²²“Also take a census of the Gershonites. List them by households and families. ²³Register all the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who are qualified to serve at the tent of meeting. 

²⁴“This is what the Gershonite families will do and what they will carry: ²⁵They will carry the sheets that are part of the inner tent and the tent of meeting. They will also carry the inner cover for the tent of meeting, the outer cover of fine leather that goes over it, the screen for the entrance to the tent of meeting, ²⁶the curtains for the courtyard around the tent and the altar, the screen for the entrance to the courtyard, the ropes, and all the equipment used to set up the curtains. The Gershonites will do everything that needs to be done with these things. ²⁷All their work, whatever they carry and all their duties, will be done under the direction of Aaron and his sons. You are in charge of telling them everything they’re supposed to carry. ²⁸This is the work of the Gershonite families in the tent of meeting. Ithamar, son of the priest Aaron, will be in charge of them. 

²⁹“Register the Merarites by families and households. ³⁰Register all the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who are qualified to serve at the tent of meeting. ³¹These are their duties as they work at the tent of meeting: They will carry the framework for the inner tent, the crossbars, posts, and sockets, ³²the posts for the surrounding courtyard, the bases, pegs, and ropes. They must take care of all this equipment. Tell each man by name the things he will carry. ³³This is what the Merarite families will do as they work at the tent of meeting. Ithamar, son of the priest Aaron, will be in charge of them.” 

³⁴Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the community registered the Kohathites by their families and households. ³⁵They registered all the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who were qualified to work at the tent of meeting. ³⁶The total of those who were registered was 2,750. They were listed by families. ³⁷This was the total of all those in the Kohathite families who served at the tent of meeting. Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had commanded Moses and registered the Kohathites. 

³⁸The Gershonites were registered by families and households. ³⁹All the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who were qualified to serve at the tent of meeting were registered. ⁴⁰The total of those who were registered was 2,630. They were listed by families and households. ⁴¹This was the total of all those in the Gershonite families who worked at the tent of meeting. Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had commanded Moses and registered the Gershonites. 

⁴²The Merarites were registered by families and households. ⁴³All the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who were qualified to serve at the tent of meeting were registered. ⁴⁴The total of all those who were registered was 3,200. They were listed by families. ⁴⁵This was the total of those registered in the Merarite families. Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had commanded Moses and registered the Merarites. 

⁴⁶The grand total of all the Levites whom Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel registered was 8,580. They were listed by families and households. ⁴⁷These were the men between the ages of 30 and 50 who were qualified to do the work of serving and who carried the tent of meeting.^b49At the Lord’s command through Moses each man was registered and told what to do and what to carry. 

So they were registered as the Lord commanded Moses. 

5TH CHAPTER

Removing Unclean People from the Camp

¹The Lord said to Moses, ²“Command the Israelites to send outside the camp anyone who has a serious skin disease or a discharge or anyone who is unclean^afrom touching a dead body. ³Send all of these unclean men and women outside the camp. They must not make this camp where I live among you unclean.” ⁴So the Israelites did as the Lord had told Moses. They sent these unclean people outside the camp. 

Confessing and Paying for Sins

⁵The Lord said to Moses, ⁶“Tell the Israelites: If you do something wrong to another person, you have been unfaithful to the Lord. When you realize your guilt, ⁷you must confess your sin, pay in full for what you did wrong, add one-fifth to it, and give it to the person who was wronged. ⁸But there may be no heir to whom the payment can be made. In that case, the payment for what you did wrong must be given to the Lord for the priest ⸤to use⸥. This payment is in addition to the ram which makes peace with the Lord. 

⁹“Any contribution over and above the holy offerings that the Israelites bring to the priest will belong to the priest. ¹⁰Each person’s holy offerings will belong to that person, but whatever is given to the priest will belong to the priest.” 

When a Husband Suspects That His Wife Has Been Unfaithful

¹¹The Lord said to Moses: ¹²“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: A man’s wife may have been unfaithful to him ¹³and may have had sexual intercourse with another man without her husband’s knowledge. She may have kept it secret if there were no witnesses to accuse her and she wasn’t caught in the act. 

¹⁴“A husband may have a fit of jealousy and suspect his wife, whether she was actually unfaithful or not. ¹⁵He must then take his wife to the priest along with eight cups of barley flour as an offering for her. He must not pour olive oil on the flour or put frankincense on it, since it is a grain offering brought because of the husband’s jealousy, an offering used for a confession—to remind someone of a sin that was committed. 

¹⁶“The priest will have the woman come forward and stand in the Lord’s presence. ¹⁷Then the priest will take holy water in a piece of pottery and put some dust from the floor of the tent into the water. ¹⁸The priest will bring the woman into the Lord’s presence and loosen her hair. In her hands he will put the offering used for a confession (that is, the grain offering brought because of the husband’s jealousy). The priest will hold in his hands the bitter water that can bring a curse.^b

¹⁹“Then the priest will say to her, ‘If no other man has had sexual intercourse with you and you haven’t been unfaithful to your husband, you’re not guilty. This bitter water that can bring a curse will not harm you. ²⁰If, in fact, you have been unfaithful and have had sexual intercourse with another man, ²¹may the Lord make you an example for your people to see what happens when the curse of this oath comes true: The Lord will make your uterus drop and your stomach swell.’^c

“Then the priest will administer the oath and the curse by saying: ²²‘May this water that can bring a curse go into your body and make your stomach swell and your uterus drop!’ 

“Then the woman will say, ‘Amen, amen!’ 

²³“The priest will write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water. ²⁴Then he will have the woman drink the bitter water that can bring the curse. This water will go into her ⸤and⸥ become bitter. ²⁵The priest will take the…