Numbers 4–5

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 years and upward to fifty years old, you shall ¹number them; all who enter to perform the duty of performing the service in the tent of meeting.

²⁴“This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in carrying:

²⁵they shall carry ^athe curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and ^bthe covering of porpoise skin that is on top of it, and the screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting,

²⁶and ^athe hangings of the court, and the screen for the doorway of the gate of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords and all the equipment for their service; and all that is to be done, ¹they shall perform.

²⁷“All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their loads and in all their service, shall be performed at the ¹command of Aaron and his sons; and you shall assign to them as a responsibility all their loads.

²⁸“This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting, and their responsibilities shall be ¹under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

Duties of the Merarites

²⁹“As for the sons of Merari, you shall number them by their families, by their fathers’ households;

³⁰from ^athirty years and upward even to fifty years old, you shall number them, everyone who enters the duty of performing the service of the tent of meeting.

³¹“Now this is the responsibility of their loads, for all their service in the tent of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle and its bars and its pillars and its bases,

³²and the pillars around the court and their bases and their pegs and their cords, with all their equipment and with all their service; and you shall assign each man by name the items of the responsibility of ¹his load.

³³“This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service in the tent of meeting, ¹under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.”

³⁴So Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families and by their fathers’ households,

³⁵from ^athirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the duty of service in the tent of meeting.

³⁶Their numbered men by their families were 2,750.

³⁷These are the numbered men of the Kohathite families, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the ¹commandment of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.

³⁸The numbered men of the sons of Gershon by their families and by their fathers’ households,

³⁹from thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the duty of service in the tent of meeting,

⁴⁰their numbered men by their families, by their fathers’ households, were 2,630.

⁴¹These are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Gershon, everyone who was serving in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the ¹commandment of Yahweh.

⁴²The numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari by their families, by their fathers’ households,

⁴³from ^athirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered the duty of service in the tent of meeting,

⁴⁴their numbered men by their families were 3,200.

⁴⁵These are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the ¹commandment of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.

⁴⁶All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel numbered, by their families and by their fathers’ households,

⁴⁷from thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter to perform the work of service and the service of carrying in the tent of meeting,

⁴⁸their numbered men were ^a8,580.

⁴⁹According to the ¹word of Yahweh by the hand of Moses, they ^awere numbered, everyone by his serving or carrying; thus these were his numbered men, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

CHAPTER 5

Unclean Sent Outside the Camp

¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Command the sons of Israel that they ^asend away from the camp every leper and everyone having a ^bdischarge and everyone who is ^1cunclean because of a dead person.

³“You shall send away both male and female; you shall send them outside the camp so that they will not defile their camp where I dwell ^ain their midst.”

⁴And the sons of Israel did so and sent them outside the camp; just as Yahweh had spoken to Moses, thus the sons of Israel did.

Restitution for Sins

⁵Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

⁶“Speak to the sons of Israel, ‘^aWhen a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against Yahweh, and that person is guilty,

⁷then ¹he shall ^aconfess ²his sins which ³he has committed, and he ^bshall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it one-fifth of it and give it to him whom he has ⁴wronged.

⁸‘But if the man has no kinsman redeemer to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution which is made for the wrong must go to Yahweh for the priest, besides the ram of atonement, by which atonement is made for him.

⁹‘^aAlso every ¹contribution pertaining to all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they bring near to the priest, shall be his.

¹⁰‘So every man’s holy gifts shall be his; whatever any man gives to the priest, it ^abecomes his.’”

The Statutes of Jealousy

¹¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

¹²“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘If any man’s wife ^agoes astray and is unfaithful to him,

¹³and a man lies ^asexually with her, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is ¹undetected; but she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, and she has not been caught in the act,

¹⁴¹if a spirit of ^ajealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife and she has defiled herself, or if a spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife but she has not defiled herself,

¹⁵the man shall then bring his wife to the priest and shall bring as ¹an offering for her one-tenth of an ²ephah of barley meal; he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, ^aa reminder of iniquity.

¹⁶‘Then the priest shall bring her near and have her stand before Yahweh,

¹⁷and the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel; and the priest shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.

¹⁸‘The priest shall then have the woman stand before Yahweh and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and he shall place the grain offering of remembrance ¹in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy; and in the hand of the priest is to be the water of bitterness that brings…