Numbers 4:15–33

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.”