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.”

²¹Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ²²“Take a census^t of the descendants^u of Gershon also, according to their families^v and clans, ²³from those thirty years old^w and above until fifty years old;^x you will muster^y them, all who come to help to do the work of the tent of assembly. ²⁴This is the work of the clans of the Gershonites:^z to serve and to carry. ²⁵They will carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of assembly and its covering and the covering of fine leather,^a which is on top of it,^b and the curtain of the doorway of the tent of assembly, ²⁶and the curtains of the courtyard, and the covering for the doorway of the gate of the courtyard, which is all around on the tabernacle and altar, and their cords and all the vessels of their work; and all that is done to them they will do. ²⁷And all the work of the descendants^c of the Gershonites^d will be at the command^e of Aaron and his sons, for all they are to carry and for all their work, and you will appoint to them responsibility for all they are to carry. ²⁸This is the work of the clan of the descendants^f of the Gershonites^g in the tent of assembly, and their responsibility lies under the direction^h of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

²⁹“For the descendantsⁱ of Merari according to their clans, according to their families,^j you will muster^k them; ³⁰from those thirty years old^l and above until fifty years old;^m you will musterⁿ them, all who come to do the work of the tent of assembly. ³¹And this is the responsibility of those who are to carry,^o all their work in the tent of assembly: the frames of the tabernacle and its bars, pillars, and bases, ³²and the pillars of the courtyard all around, and their bases, pegs, and cords, with all their vessels and for all their work. You will appoint by name the vessels that they are responsible to carry. ³³This is the work of the clan of the descendants^p of Merari, for all their work in the tent of assembly under the direction^q of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.”

Read in Logos

Footnotes

oOr “sons”
pOr “sons”
qLiterally “the grain offering of continuity”
rHebrew “Kohathite”
sLiterally “as devouring”
tLiterally “And lift up the number of”
uOr “sons”
vLiterally “the house of their fathers”
wLiterally “a son of twenty years”
xLiterally “a son of fifty years”
yOr “count,” or “summon,” or “enroll”
zHebrew “Gershonite”
aLiterally “the hide of a sea cow”
bLiterally “is above upon it”
cOr “sons”
dHebrew “Gershonite”
eLiterally “the mouth”
fOr “sons”
gHebrew “Gershonite”
hLiterally “in the hand”
iOr “sons”
jLiterally “the house of their fathers”
kOr “count,” or “summon,” or “enroll”
lLiterally “a son of thirty years”
mLiterally “a son of fifty years”
nOr “count,” or “summon,” or “enroll”
oLiterally “them carrying”
pOr “sons”
qLiterally “in the hand”