Numbers 3:5–37

⁵Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

⁶“^aBring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him.

⁷“They shall perform the duties for ¹him and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the ^aservice of the tabernacle.

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

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 ¹layman who comes near shall be put to death.”

¹¹Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

¹²“Now, behold, I ^ahave taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every ^bfirstborn, the first issue 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 the Lord.”

¹⁴Then the Lord 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 number.”

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

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

¹⁸These 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 ¹tabernacle westward,

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

Duties of the Priests

²⁵Now ^athe duties 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, performing the duties 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 duties 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 perform the duties of the sanctuary.

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

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

³⁵The 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 duties of the sons of Merari involved the frames of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, all its equipment, and the service concerning them,

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