Numbers 3–4

Chapter 3

¹ These are the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. ²These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the first-born, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar; ³these are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he ordained to minister in the priest’s office. ⁴But Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they offered unholy fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of Aaron their father.

⁵And the Lord said to Moses, ⁶“Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. ⁷They shall perform duties for him and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, as they minister at the tabernacle; ⁸they shall have charge of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and attend to the duties for the people of Israel as they minister at the tabernacle. ⁹And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the people of Israel. ¹⁰And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall attend to their priesthood; but if any one else comes near, he shall be put to death.”

¹¹And the Lord said to Moses, ¹²“Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every first-born that opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine, ¹³for all the first-born are mine; on the day that I slew all the first-born in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the first-born in Israel, both of man and of beast; they shall be mine: I am the Lord.”

¹⁴And the Lord said to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, ¹⁵“Number the sons of Levi, by fathers’ houses and by families; every male from a month old and upward you shall number.” ¹⁶So Moses numbered them according to the word of the Lord, as he was commanded. ¹⁷And these were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon and Kohath and Merari. ¹⁸And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shime-i. ¹⁹And the sons of Kohath by their families: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ²⁰And the sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites, by their fathers’ houses.

²¹Of Gershon were the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shime-ites; these were the families of the Gershonites. ²²Their number according to the number of all the males from a month old and upward was seven thousand five hundred. ²³The families of the Gershonites were to encamp behind the tabernacle on the west, ²⁴with Eliasaph, the son of Lael as head of the fathers’ house of the Gershonites. ²⁵And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting was to be the tabernacle, the tent with its covering, the screen for the door of the tent of meeting, ²⁶the hangings of the court, the screen for the door of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its cords; all the service pertaining to these.

²⁷Of Kohath were the family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites; these are the families of the Kohathites. ²⁸According to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, there were eight thousand six hundred, attending to the duties of the sanctuary. ²⁹The families of the sons of Kohath were to encamp on the south side of the tabernacle, ³⁰with Eli-zaphan the son of Uzziel as head of the fathers’ house of the families of the Kohathites. ³¹And their charge was to be the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the vessels of the sanctuary with which the priests minister, and the screen; all the service pertaining to these. ³²And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was to be chief over the leaders of the Levites, and to have oversight of those who had charge of the sanctuary.

³³Of Merari were the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites: these are the families of Merari. ³⁴Their number according to the number of all the males from a month old and upward was six thousand two hundred. ³⁵And the head of the fathers’ house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail; they were to encamp on the north side of the tabernacle. ³⁶And the appointed charge of the sons of Merari was to be the frames of the tabernacle, the bars, the pillars, the bases, and all their accessories; all the service pertaining to these; ³⁷also the pillars of the court round about, with their bases and pegs and cords.

³⁸And those to encamp before the tabernacle on the east, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrise, were Moses and Aaron and his sons, having charge of the rites within the sanctuary, whatever had to be done for the people of Israel; and any one else who came near was to be put to death. ³⁹All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the Lord, by families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty-two thousand.

⁴⁰And the Lord said to Moses, “Number all the first-born males of the people of Israel, from a month old and upward, taking their number by names. ⁴¹And you shall take the Levites for me—I am the Lord—instead of all the first-born among the people of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the people of Israel.” ⁴²So Moses numbered all the first-born among the people of Israel, as the Lord commanded him. ⁴³And all the first-born males, according to the number of names, from a month old and upward as numbered were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.

⁴⁴And the Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁵“Take the Levites instead of all the first-born among the people of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall be mine: I am the Lord. ⁴⁶And for the redemption of the two hundred and seventy-three of the first-born of the people of Israel, over and above the number of the male Levites, ⁴⁷you shall take five shekels apiece; reckoning by the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel of twenty gerahs, you shall take them, ⁴⁸and give the money by which the excess number of them is redeemed to Aaron and his sons.” ⁴⁹So Moses took the redemption money from those who were over and above those redeemed by the Levites; ⁵⁰from the first-born of the people of Israel he took the money, one thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels, reckoned by the shekel of the sanctuary; ⁵¹and Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons, according to the word of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Chapter 4

¹The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²“Take a census of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families and their fathers’ houses, ³from thirty years old up to fifty years old, all who can enter the service, to do the work in the tent of meeting. ⁴This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting: the most holy things. ⁵When the camp is to set out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the veil of the screen, and cover the ark of the testimony with it; ⁶then they shall put on it a covering of goatskin, and spread over that a cloth all of blue, and shall put in its poles. ⁷And over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put upon it the plates, the dishes for incense, the bowls, and the flagons for the drink offering; the continual bread also shall be on it; ⁸then they shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of goatskin, and shall put in its poles. ⁹And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the lampstand for the light, with its lamps, its snuffers, its trays, and all the vessels for oil with which it is supplied: ¹⁰and they shall put it with all its utensils in a covering of goatskin and put it upon the carrying frame. ¹¹And over the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of goatskin, and shall put in its poles; ¹²and they shall take all the vessels of the service which are used in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of goatskin, and put them on the carrying frame. ¹³And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth over it; ¹⁴and they shall put on it all the utensils of the altar, which are used for the service there, the firepans, the forks, the shovels, and the basins, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of goatskin, and shall put in its poles. ¹⁵And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die. These are the things of the tent of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.

¹⁶“And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the continual cereal offering, and the anointing oil, with the oversight of all the tabernacle and all that is in it, of the sanctuary and its vessels.”

¹⁷The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ¹⁸“Let not the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be destroyed from among the Levites; ¹⁹but deal thus with them, that they may live and not die when they come near to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them each to his task and to his burden, ²⁰but they shall not go in to look upon the holy things even for a moment, lest they die.”

²¹The Lord said to Moses, ²²“Take a census of the sons of Gershon also, by their families and their fathers’ houses; ²³from thirty years old up to fifty years old, you shall number them, all who can enter for service, to do the work in the tent of meeting. ²⁴This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and bearing burdens: ²⁵they shall carry the curtains…