Numbers 3:5–37

⁵Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶“Bring near the tribe of Levi, and set the tribe^f before Aaron^g the priest, and they will minister to him. ⁷They shall observe his duties and the duties of the entire community before the tent of assembly, to do the work of the tabernacle. ⁸And they will keep all the vessels of the tent of assembly and the responsibilities of the Israelites,^h to do the workⁱ of the tabernacle. ⁹You will give the Levites to Aaron and to his descendants; they are surely assigned to him from among the Israelites.^{j 10}But you will count Aaron and his descendants; they will keep their priesthood, and the stranger^k who approaches will be put to death.”

¹¹Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, ¹²“I myself receive the Levites from the midst of the Israelites^l in the place of all the firstborn of the offspring of the womb from the Israelites.^m The Levites will be mine ¹³because all the firstborn are mine; on the day of my killing all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for myself all the firstborn in Israel, both humankind and animal;ⁿ they will be mine. I am Yahweh.”

¹⁴Yahweh spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, saying, ¹⁵“Muster^o the descendants of Levi according to their families,^p according to their clans. You will count every male from one month^q and above.” ¹⁶So Moses mustered^r them according to the command of Yahweh,^s just as he commanded. ¹⁷These were the sons of Levi according to their names: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹⁸And these are the names of the sons of Gershon according to their clans: Libni and Shimei. ¹⁹And the sons of Kohath according to their clans: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ²⁰The sons of Merari according to their tribes: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their families.^t

²¹To Gershon belonged^u the clan of the Libnites and the clan of the Shimeites; these are the clans of the Gershonites. ²²The ones counted^v according to the number of every male from one month^w and above were seven thousand five hundred. ²³The clans of the Gershonites will camp behind the tabernacle to the west, ²⁴and the leader of the family^x of the Gershonites is Eliasaph son of Lael. ²⁵And the responsibility of the descendants of Gershon in the tent of assembly is the tabernacle, and the tent covering it and the curtain of the doorway of the tent of the assembly, ²⁶and the hangings of the courtyard and the curtain of the doorway of the courtyard that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its tent cords, all of its use.

²⁷To Kohath belonged^y the clan of Amramites,^z the clan of the Izharites,^a the clan of the Hebronites,^b and the clan of the Uzzielites;^c these were the clans of the Kohathites.^{d 28}According to the number of every male from one month^e and above there were eight thousand six hundred keeping the responsibility of the sanctuary. ²⁹The clan of the descendants of Kohath will encamp on the side of the tabernacle to the south. ³⁰The leader of his family^f according to the clans of the Kohathites^g is Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. ³¹Their responsibility was the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary, with which they ministered, and the curtain, and all of its use. ³²The chief of the leaders^h of the Levitesⁱ was Eleazar son of Aaron the priest who had oversight of those keeping the responsibility of the sanctuary.

³³To Merari belonged^j the clan of Mahlites^k and the clan of the Mushites:^l these are the clans of Merari. ³⁴The ones counted^m according to the number of every male from one monthⁿ and above were six thousand two hundred. ³⁵The leader of the family^o according to the clans of Merari is Zuriel son of Abihail; they will encamp of the side of the tabernacle to the north. ³⁶The responsibility of the sons of Merari was the supervision of the frames of the tabernacle, its bars, pillars, bases, and all its vessels and all its service, ³⁷and the pillars around the courtyard, and their bases, pegs, and cords.