Numbers 4:1–20

The Census of the Kohathites

4Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ²“Take a census^a of the descendants^b of Kohath from the midst of the descendants^c of Levi, according to their clans and their families,^{d 3}from thirty years old^e and above, up to fifty years old,^f everyone who comes to the service to do the work in the tent of assembly. ⁴This is the work of the descendants^g of Kohath in the tent of assembly, concerning the holiness of the sanctuary: ⁵When setting out the camp, Aaron and his sons will go and lower the curtain of the covering and cover with it the ark of the testimony.^{h 6}They will put on it a covering of fine leather,ⁱ and they will spread a cloth of perfect blue over it, and they will place its poles. ⁷And over the table of the presence they will spread out a blue cloth and put on it the plates, dishes, and libation bowls, and the pitchers of the libation; and the bread of continuity will be on it. ⁸They will spread over it a scarlet cloth, and they will cover it with a covering of fine leather,^j and they will place its poles. ⁹They will take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand for the light source, its lamps, a pair of its tongs, its small pans, and all the vessels of its oil with which they attend to it. ¹⁰They will put it and all its vessels inside a covering of fine leather^k and put it on the carrying frame. ¹¹Over the altar of gold they will spread a blue cloth, and they will cover it with a covering of fine leather^l and place its poles. ¹²They will take all the vessels of the cultic service with which they serve in the sanctuary and put them on a blue cloth, and they will cover them with a covering of fine leather;^m and they will put them on the carrying frame. ¹³They will remove the fat-soaked ashes from the altar and spread a purple cloth over it; ¹⁴they will put on it all the vessels with which they serve, the fire pans, forks, shovels, and bowls—all the vessels of the altar. They will spread on it a covering of fine leather;ⁿ and they will place its poles. ¹⁵And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the vessels of the sanctuary when the camp sets out, the descendants^o of Kohath will come after to carry these, but they must not touch the sanctuary, or they will die. These are the load of the descendants^p of Kohath in the tent of assembly.

¹⁶“Eleazar son of Aaron the priest is to supervise the oil of the light source, the incense, the regular grain offering,^q the oil of anointment, the supervision of all the tabernacle and all that is in it, in the sanctuary and in its vessels.”

¹⁷Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ¹⁸“You must not cut off the tribe of the clan of the Kohathites^r from the midst of the Levites. ¹⁹Do this to them and they will live and not die when they come near the most holy things. Aaron and his sons will go and appoint them, each one to his task and burden. ²⁰But they must not go and look for a moment^s at the holy objects.”