^4:34So Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the community numbered the Kohathites by their families and by clans, ^4:35from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, everyone who entered the company for the work in the tent of meeting; ^4:36and those of them numbered by their families were 2,750. ^4:37These were those numbered from the families of the Kohathites, everyone who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord by the authority of Moses.

^4:38Those numbered from the Gershonites, by their families and by their clans, ^4:39from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, everyone who entered the company for the work in the tent of meeting—^4:40those of them numbered by their families, by their clans, were 2,630. ^4:41These were those numbered from the families of the Gershonites, everyone who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord.

^4:42Those numbered from the families of the Merarites, by their families, by their clans, ^4:43from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, everyone who entered the company for the work in the tent of meeting—^4:44those of them numbered by their families were 3,200. ^4:45These are those numbered from the families of the Merarites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the Lord by the authority of Moses.

^4:46All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel numbered by their families and by their clans, ^4:47from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, everyone who entered to do the work of service and the work of carrying³⁹ relating to the tent of meeting—^4:48those of them numbered were 8,580. ^4:49According to the word of the Lord they were numbered,⁴⁰ by the authority of Moses, each according to his service and according to what he was to carry.⁴¹ Thus were they numbered by him,⁴² as the Lord had commanded Moses.

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Footnotes

39 The text multiplies the vocabulary of service here in the summary. In the Hebrew text the line reads literally: “everyone who came to serve the service of serving, and the service of burden.” The Levites came into service in the shrine, and that involved working in the sanctuary as well as carrying it from one place to the next.
40 The verb is the simple perfect tense—“he numbered them.” There is no expressed subject; therefore, the verb can be rendered as a passive.
41 Or “his burden.”
42 The passive form simply reads “those numbered by him.” Because of the cryptic nature of the word, some suggest reading a preterite, “and they were numbered.” This is supported by the Greek, , , and . It would follow in the emendation that the relative pronoun be changed to “just as” (כַּאֲשֶׁר, ka’asher). The is impossible the way it stands; it can only be rendered into smooth English by adding something that is missing.