Numbers 3–4

CHAPTER 3

Priests and Levites

^1aNow these are the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when Yahweh spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.

^2aThese then are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

³These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the ^aanointed priests, whom he ¹ordained to minister as priests.

^4aBut Nadab and Abihu died before Yahweh when they offered strange fire before Yahweh in the wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar ministered as priests ¹in the lifetime of their father Aaron.

⁵Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

⁶“^aBring the tribe of Levi near and have them stand before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him.

⁷“And they shall keep his responsibility and the responsibility for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to perform the ^aservice of the tabernacle.

⁸“They shall also keep all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the responsibility of the sons of Israel, to perform the service of the ¹tabernacle.

⁹“You shall thus ^agive the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel.

¹⁰“So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that ^athey may keep their priesthood, but ^bthe ¹outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

¹¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

¹²“Now, behold, I ^ahave taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every ^bfirstborn, the first offspring of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine.

¹³“For ^aall the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from man to beast. They shall be Mine; I am Yahweh.”

¹⁴Then Yahweh spoke to Moses ^ain the wilderness of Sinai, saying,

¹⁵“^1aNumber the sons of Levi by their fathers’ households, by their families; every male from a month old and upward you shall ²number.”

¹⁶So Moses numbered them according to the ¹word of Yahweh, just as he had been commanded.

^17aThese then are the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon and Kohath and Merari.

¹⁸And these are the names of the ^asons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei;

¹⁹and the sons of Kohath by their families: Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel;

²⁰and the sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their fathers’ households.

²¹Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimeites; these were the families of the Gershonites.

²²Their numbered men, in the numbering of every male from a month old and upward, even their numbered men were 7,500.

²³The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle westward,

²⁴and the leader of the fathers’ households of the Gershonites was Eliasaph the son of Lael.

Responsibilities of the Priests

²⁵Now ^athe responsibility of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting involved the tabernacle and ^bthe tent, its covering, and ^cthe screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting,

²⁶and ^athe hangings of the court, and ^bthe screen for the doorway of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its cords, according to all the service ¹concerning them.

²⁷Of Kohath was the family of the Amramites and the family of the Izharites and the family of the Hebronites and the family of the Uzzielites; these were the families of the Kohathites.

²⁸In the numbering of every male from a month old and upward, there were 8,600, keeping the responsibility of the sanctuary.

²⁹The families of the sons of Kohath were to camp on the southward side of the tabernacle,

³⁰and the leader of the fathers’ households of the Kohathite families was ¹Elizaphan the son of Uzziel.

³¹Now ^atheir responsibility involved ^bthe ark, ^cthe table, ^dthe lampstand, ^ethe altars, and the utensils of the sanctuary with which they minister, and the screen, and all the service ¹concerning them;

³²and Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was the chief of the leaders of Levi and had the oversight of those who keep the responsibility of the sanctuary.

³³Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites; these were the families of Merari.

³⁴And their numbered men, in the numbering of every male from a month old and upward, were 6,200.

³⁵And the leader of the fathers’ households of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They were to ^acamp on the northward side of the tabernacle.

³⁶Now the appointed responsibility of the sons of Merari involved the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its bases, all its equipment, and the service concerning them,

³⁷and the pillars around the court with their bases and their pegs and their cords.

³⁸Now those who were to ^acamp before the tabernacle eastward, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrise, are Moses and Aaron and his sons, keeping the responsibility of the sanctuary for the responsibility of the sons of Israel; but ^bthe ¹outsider coming near was to be put to death.

³⁹All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the ¹command of Yahweh by their families, every male from a month old and upward, were ^a22,000.

Redemption of the Firstborn

⁴⁰Then Yahweh said to Moses, “^aNumber every firstborn male of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and ¹make a list of their names.

⁴¹“And you ^ashall take the Levites for Me, I am Yahweh, instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the cattle of the sons of Israel.”

⁴²So Moses numbered all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, just as Yahweh had commanded him;

⁴³and all the firstborn males by the number of names from a month old and upward, for their numbered men were ^a22,273.

⁴⁴Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

⁴⁵“^aTake the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel and the cattle of the Levites. And the Levites shall be Mine; I am Yahweh.

⁴⁶“^aFor the redemption price of the 273 of the firstborn of the sons of Israel who are in excess beyond the Levites,

⁴⁷you shall take ^afive ¹shekels apiece, per head; you shall take them in ^bterms of the shekel of the sanctuary (^cthe shekel is twenty ²gerahs),

⁴⁸and give the money, the redemption price of those who are in excess among them, to Aaron and to his sons.”

⁴⁹So Moses took the money of the redemption price from those who were in excess, beyond those redeemed by the Levites;

⁵⁰from the firstborn of the sons of Israel he took the money in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, 1,365.

⁵¹Then Moses gave the money of the redemption price to Aaron and to his sons, at the ¹command of Yahweh, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

CHAPTER 4

Duties of the Kohathites

¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

²“Take ¹a census of the ²descendants of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers’ households,

³from ^athirty years and upward, even to fifty years old, all who enter the duty of doing the work in the tent of meeting.

⁴“This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting, concerning the most holy things.

⁵“And when the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and they shall take down ^athe veil of the screen and cover the ^bark of the testimony with it;

⁶and they shall put a ^acovering of porpoise skin on it and shall spread over it a cloth of pure ¹blue and shall insert its poles.

⁷“Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall also spread a cloth of ¹blue and put on it the dishes and the pans and the offering bowls and the jars for the drink offering, and ^athe continual bread shall be on it.

⁸“And they shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet material and cover the same with a covering of porpoise skin, and they shall insert its poles.

⁹“Then they shall take a ¹blue cloth and cover the ^alampstand for the light, ^balong with its lamps and its tongs, and its ²trays and all its oil vessels, by which they minister in connection to it;

¹⁰and they shall put it and all its utensils in a covering of porpoise skin and shall put it on the carrying bars.

¹¹“And over the golden altar they shall spread a ¹blue cloth and cover it with a covering of porpoise skin and shall insert its poles;

¹²and they shall take all the utensils of ministry, with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a ¹blue cloth and cover them with a covering of porpoise skin and put them on the carrying bars.

¹³“Then they shall take away the ¹ashes from the ^aaltar and spread a purple cloth over it.

¹⁴“They shall also put on it all its utensils by which they minister in connection with it: the firepans, the flesh hooks and shovels and the bowls, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread a cover of porpoise skin over it and insert its poles.

¹⁵“When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is to set out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them, so that they will not touch the holy objects ^aand die. These are the ¹things in the tent of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶“And the assignment of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is ^athe oil for the light and the ^bfragrant incense and ^cthe continual grain offering and ^dthe anointing oil—the assignment of all the ¹tabernacle and of all that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings.”

¹⁷Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

¹⁸“Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites.

¹⁹“But do this to them that they may live and ^anot die when they approach the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons shall go in and set each of them to his service and to his load;

²⁰but ^athey shall not go in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.”

Duties of the Gershonites

²¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

²²“Take ¹a census of the sons of Gershon ²also, by their fathers’ households, by their families;

²³from ^athirty…